The Sandbox, which will have food, pickleball and beach weddings, draws closer to opening
The big new entertainment complex in Derby — The Sandbox at 2412 N. Rock Road — looks pretty big from the street.
But not until people get inside the place when it opens later this summer will they get a feel for how big it actually is.
“You can’t tell from the front,” said Kevin Bishop, the longtime Wichita restaurateur who is the venue’s general manager. “That’s what people say: You haven’t seen it if you haven’t been on the inside.”
And not many people besides construction workers and employees have seen inside yet. Crews are busy at work on the 11.2-acre complex, which will include a two-level restaurant with an outdoor upstairs deck, four indoor and five outdoor pickleball courts, eight sand volleyball courts and several private meeting and party spaces.
Recently, Bishop invited me out for a tour of the complex and also shared the recently completed menu for its restaurant, which you can see below.
Developed by Bishop, The Sandbox owner Chas Tulipana and kitchen manager Otavio Berry, the menu includes comfort food dishes like chicken fried steak, fish and chips, chicken and waffles, fried shrimp and a “meatloaf tower” as well as tacos, pasta, salads, burgers and sandwiches. The menu also includes a long list of bar-friendly appetizers like fried mozzarella sticks, fried pickles, queso, spinach and artichoke dip, loaded tots and more.
Something else the menu will include — and something Derby residents have been demanding, Bishop says — are steaks. The Sandbox will serve Yoder Meats cuts like rib eye, KC strip, filet, center cut sirloin and more. It’ll also serve prime rib on weekends.
The Sandbox, which also will offer corn hole, yard games and league play, was approved in early 2020 and paid for in part by $14.4 million in sales tax revenue bonds, or STAR bonds. Initially, The Sandbox owners hoped to have it open by last fall, then COVID-related delays pushed it into early summer. Now, it’s looking like August will be the earliest the complex will open, Bishop said.
The Sandbox, which has a Chicken N Pickle vibe but several different offerings, is based off of The Sandbox at 509 NW Barry Road in Kansas City, Missouri, which also is owned by Tulipana. Derby’s, though, will be four times larger and have its own unique menu, Bishop said.
Among the other highlights of the facility:
▪ All-weather dome: In cold weather months, the outdoor pickleball and sand volleyball courts will be covered by a 65,000 square-foot floating dome that will allow people to use the facilities year round, Bishop said. People should try to envision a smaller version of the big dome that covers the Genesis Health Club courts on Rock Road.
▪ Beach weddings: The sand volleyball courts will be covered in tons of sand hauled in in 250 truckloads, and The Sandbox will also allow people to use that area for “beach” weddings, Bishop said.
▪ Indoor/outdoor dining: The Sandbox restaurant will offer 45 indoor tables downstairs, 46 outdoor tables on the upstairs deck that overlooks the courts, and another 24 outdoor tables downstairs. The venue also will have an outdoor food hut offering people on the courts beverages, including six signature frozen drinks, as well as food from the restaurant.
▪ Live music: The Sandbox plans to offer live music several days a week on its upstairs restaurant balcony and later will offer larger concerts on a separate downstairs stage.
▪ Lots of private event space: The complex will be able to accommodate all types of meetings and parties. Its indoor pickleball courts can be used for larger conventions or business meetings, and people also can reserve smaller indoor party rooms or even rent out the upstairs balcony for events.
I’ll keep you posted on The Sandbox’s progress. In the meantime, whet your appetite by perusing the menu:
The Sandbox menu
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 1:09 PM.
.jpg)