By day, he's a development firm executive. His side project is a new Milwaukee games shop

Ben Checota's day job is serving as an executive at Milwaukee-based Landmark Healthcare Facilities LLC, which develops and manages medical buildings throughout the United States.

But his side passion project has a more local focus centering on his longtime hobby of playing tabletop games.

Checota recently finished a two-year renovation of a pair of adjacent historic buildings near University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The tenants include Old Guard Games, Checota's store which sells such games as Catan, Pandemic, Warhammer and the Star Wars Legion series, as well as miniature figurines used in Dungeons and Dragons and other games − including those with military themes.

Old Guard, 3132 N. Downer Ave., has its grand opening on Memorial Day weekend. It will feature various game tournaments running May 24 through May 26.

The store has 4,200 square feet of retail space, with 300 square feet set aside in two areas so several different games can be played at the same time.

Board game store will compete with online game sellers

Old Guard will compete with online game sellers by providing a huge assortment while also offering the social aspect of playing at the store, Checota said.

The idea is to create a space where everybody is welcome, he said.

"We want to have, in a real sense, a place to hang out," Checota said, while showing Old Guard to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Old Guard's model is Napoleon's, a game store that operated for 25 years on Milwaukee's east side and in Shorewood before closing in 2005.

Checota, 57, a tabletop game player since his childhood, remembers it as a place which drew "all different people from all different backgrounds."

Legendary Marquette coach Al McGuire was Napoleon's customer

That included legendary former Marquette University men's basketball coach Al McGuire. He frequently stopped by "to consult with (owner Fritz) Buchholtz about his collection of toy soldiers," according to a 2005 Journal Sentinel article.

Old Guard's space set aside for playing games includes one table large enough to accommodate several people reenacting the Battle of Waterloo, or other epic battles, with miniature figurines.

Another room has cameras and microphones so the game can be seen by people from outside that space.

"People love to see what other people are doing," Checota said.

His foray into the business of gaming started in 2006, when he launched Badger Games. That business procures miniature figurines from artists throughout the United States, and in such countries as Russia and Germany, and resells them to gamers.

Checota bought Old Guard's future home and an adjacent building with plans of renovating them as an investment property.

The buildings, at 3120 and 3128-3136 N. Downer Ave., were probably best known for including the longtime home of Follett's Books, which mainly sold textbooks to UWM students.

Checota grew up near the buildings and still lives in the neighborhood. His first job was working at Follett's when he was 14.

Games shop previously housed Panther Bookstore

That shop, later known as Panther Bookstore and then Neebo Bookstore, closed around a decade ago. Another business, a tanning salon, shut down around five years ago, Checota said.

The buildings, constructed in 1905 and 1913, needed an extensive renovation.

Along with new plumbing, electrical and heating systems, the exterior masonry was restored − including such decorative items as four cherubs and two coats of arms. Other work included restoring the copper awnings.

Checota decided to convert much of the buildings' ground floor into Old Guard Games. He's lining up a barber shop and a coffee shop as additional tenants, with apartments on the second floor.

"This project really started as a quick renovation to lease but became a labor of love as I learned more about the building and its importance in east side history," he said, and "found all the fantastic architectural and structural elements hidden under plaster and paint."

Old Guard (the name is an homage to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's elite military unit) reflects Checota's lifelong interest in tabletop games.

He remembers spending his allowance as a grade school kid buying Lord of the Rings miniature figurines at a downtown Milwaukee store.

As a teenager in the '80s, gaming "was kind of for the outsiders," Checota said, and a place for people "who kind of didn't fit in with everything."

In contrast with video games − where people can play for hours with little personal interaction − tabletop games require players to talk to one another, he said.

That can lead to lifelong friendships, Checota said.

"It's so much more satisfying," he said.

Most of Checota's professional career has been at Landmark Healthcare Facilities, where he's senior vice president for business development.

Landmark was launched in 1996 by Checota, his brother, and his father, developer Joe Checota − who, with his wife, Ellen, is providing a major naming gift for Milwaukee Repertory Theater's new Associated Bank Theater Center. Its refurbished main stage will be named the Ellen & Joe Checota Powerhouse Theater.

Meanwhile, Ben Checota doesn't know yet whether his passion for tabletop games will carry on to his two children, ages 6 and 10. But there's one early indicator.

"They love Pokeman cards," he said.

Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, X and Facebook.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: This development executive is opening a Milwaukee tabletop game shop