The list of entertainment options in the southwest suburbs just got longer.
Ground Zero, an entertainment complex that includes a dance floor, stage, sports bar, game room and cigar concession, opened earlier this month in the Hickory Creek Center at 191st Street and La Grange Road in Mokena.
There’s already a lot going on at Ground Zero, owner Chris Skilnik said, but the project isn’t complete. A fine-dining restaurant will be added later this year, he said.
Skilnik, who has worked at Chicago area entertainment facilities that include Park West and Excalibur, said the southern fringes of the city are ready to support a local venture.
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“I always lived on the South Side, and it was an untapped market,” he said, noting that Ground Zero has attracted about 4,000 people a night on its first two weekends.
And the customers are not just twenty-something movie fans, he said. “We get a lot of 35 to 40-year-olds,” he said.
The decor, he said, is “futuristic. I went with a lot of chrome and a lot of silver.”
The cavernous club room is dotted with chrome-trimmed stools and tables, and a gallery fenced with thin chrome pipes overlooks the area, which includes a red curtained stage for live performances.
Walls and ceilings are dark and pierced with spotlights.
In the sports bar and restaurant, 13 television sets are over the bar, so fans won’t miss a play, and a 14th television of movie-screen dimensions is visible from the dining area.
The game room features pool tables, dartboards, video games and pinball machines, and Skilnik expects to set up some pool and darts leagues for patrons.
An upscale members room on the upper level has a private bar and groupings of overstuffed leather chairs and couches. It is available to those who pay a special membership fee, Skilnik said.
The room provides a quiet, private setting for people to entertain business clients or just relax, he said.
Many agents have contacted him, Skilnik said, and live concerts will likely begin soon. Mokena Mayor Robert Chiszar, who presided over the official ribbon cutting at a Chamber of Commerce gathering Tuesday, said Ground Zero has been “a good community citizen.