Bankroll, the splashy sports activities bar that opened in March within the former Boyd Theater, introduced Monday that it had scaled again its operations for the summer season — closing its Big Game Room and restaurant to walk-in clients in favor of personal occasions — and furloughed most staff.

The restaurant, which had served dinner 5 nights every week and brunch on weekends, was open Sunday. Staff was notified Monday, a spokesperson stated. A supply within the firm stated about 50 individuals have been on the payroll full and half time.

In an announcement, Bankroll introduced that it had seen “strong interest” in non-public occasions. “With a lighter professional sports schedule and many Philadelphians traveling to shore points and other locations during the summer, Bankroll’s operating partners decided to use this idle time to optimize the venue’s spaces and operations,” it stated.

The assertion stated common hours operations would return “in time for the NFL season.”

The spokesperson stated furloughed staff can be supplied hourly roles for occasions work.

Bankroll, whose reported $25 million build-out was backed by Bucks County venture capitalist Paul Martino, opened in March within the entrance of the Boyd, which had been redeveloped. The Boyd, a circa-1928 Art Deco film home at 1910 Chestnut St., lower than two blocks from Rittenhouse Square, had turn out to be a logo of benign neglect because it sat empty after closing in 2002. Bankroll’s cavernous two-level Big Game Room sits behind the theater’s restored marquee whereas the restaurant occupies the previous Gap Outlet retailer subsequent door.

With an array of screens exhibiting betting odds and occasions, Bankroll positions itself as a high-end sports activities parlor catering to the brand new technology of shoppers who get pleasure from app-based gaming on their telephones. It shouldn’t be a sports-gaming parlor, per se.

The undertaking confronted opposition from neighbors within the William Penn House, a apartment constructing throughout the road. In April, simply weeks after Bankroll’s opening, Common Pleas Court Judge Anne Marie Coyle ruled that the town Zoning Board of Adjustment had ignored proof that the bar would worsen visitors congestion and impede emergency automobiles. She overturned the board’s choice to approve its zoning request. Meanwhile, Bankroll was allowed to proceed to function as a result of it had secured a brand new zoning allow for “assembly and entertainment,” a use allowed underneath the zoning guidelines.

Preservationists and nostalgists had lobbied for years to avoid wasting the Boyd, the final of Center City’s grand film homes. Plan after plan went nowhere. Demolition began in 2014 for a brand new film home that by no means occurred. Then got here a brand new developer, Pearl Properties, creating an apartment building referred to as The Harper behind it. When it razed the Boyd’s ornate auditorium in 2015, Pearl agreed to take care of the facade, lobby, foyer, and a few fixtures.

Martino’s undertaking, announced in 2021, initially was a partnership with Starr Restaurants — an affiliation that was touted throughout Bankroll’s zoning hearings. Shortly earlier than the opening, Bankroll and Starr confirmed that Starr had left the undertaking however declined to specify when that was.