By Anne Higuera
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
A change in ownership for Roxy’s Casino and Roxbury Lanes (2823 SW Roxbury Street) means the neighborhood landmark is now one of the Imperial Palace Casinos, the third in a trio that includes locations in Auburn and Tukwila. The casino group took over operations late last month, and while there’s some new staff, big changes are not in the works. “Our goal is to keep it substantially the same,” the casino group’s president Shaun Jensen told WSB. “The property has been here a very long time, and we want to stay true to that legacy.”
That’s exactly what the longtime ownership group had in mind when they sold the business. “They’re the ones we wanted to sell to,” says Vern Westerdahl, one of the original Roxbury Investment Group LLC members. He says Imperial Palace Casinos is more like, “…how a family-run business would run it.” Westerdahl and a changing group of LLC members have run Roxbury Lanes since 2004, when they took over operations from AMF Bowling Centers. At the time, what would become the casino was basically an empty room. “The Lions Club would meet there one time a month. They had gambling there at one time, but lost the license way back when. AMF wasn’t doing much with it.” They changed that, building out the card room and adding other amenities along the way. Westerdahl says over the years the ownership group included Doug and Glenda Harrell, who also owned Magic Lanes, the White Center bowling center that closed in 2011, and was later converted into a church. Members of the Harrell family also owned the Roxbury property for a number of years.
Meantime, the Roxbury property changed hands multiple times, including a sale in 2016 to an Arizona LLC called Store Master Funding VIII. This last October, members of the Roxbury Investment Group LLC and some additional investors formed a new LLC, The Spirit of Magic, to buy the property from which they had operated their business for more than 20 years. Westerdahl says that $5.83 million sale was not ideal, but a necessity because of the rising cost of leasing the space. “It’s pretty expensive to do business in this area. The only thing that made sense was to buy the land and building.”
The building was constructed in 1957, and there is a lot under that one roof: the bowling alley, an arcade, a restaurant and bar, and the casino card room. It advertises a wide variety of entertainment, from kids’ birthday bowling parties to Texas Hold ‘Em and racing simulators. The new owners are still adjusting to the new space. “We’ll keep hours the same,” Jensen said. “We’re brand new to this area, so still learning a lot of the area and what makes the most sense.” The other Imperial Palace Casinos don’t have bowling or arcades, so this is new territory in more ways than one. “At our Auburn and Tukwila casinos, we are 21 and over. This is a new demographic, but it’s welcoming change.”
Jensen says the acquisition was a matter of good timing all the way around. “Our owner is always looking to expand the business and grow the footprint.” Jensen says they are working to keep as much of the staff at the Roxbury location as possible, while working in staff from other locations as needed.
Westerdahl says Imperial Palace Casinos has a 3-year lease to start, and the option to buy the property in the future, which leaves open the potential that the business and property would once again be under one umbrella in just a few years. In the meantime, he and the other LLC members have done a hard pivot from being longtime operators to landlords, and as he ties up loose ends and hands over vendor accounts, he says that’s a good feeling. “We had it up for sale because we’re not spring chickens anymore. It’s in their hands and out of our hands. It’s all theirs now.”