It isn’t a good season for bowling in Queens.
Two major national bowling operators, AMF Bowling Centers, Incorporated of Richmond, Virginia and the Brunswick Corporation of Lake Forest, Illinois have both apparently abandoned the borough.
On Thursday, April 24, AMF abruptly closed the Van Wyck Lanes in Richmond Hill, without any prior notice to the public, or a passel of bowling leagues which had contracts to conduct their season at the bowling alley, located on the service road of the Van Wyck Expressway, between Jamaica and Metropolitan Avenues.
Residents and league bowlers who had counted on AMF since they took over the location 48 years ago, awoke the next day to find their beloved gathering place surrounded by a fence and patrolled by guards.
There were still two weeks left on the 35-week league contracts, and some bowlers who reportedly belong to different leagues at different locations were unable to retrieve their equipment until after the weekend.
Merrell Wreden, a spokesperson for AMF, said that the company regretted the short notice and “the inability of bowlers to have immediate access to their equipment,” according to reports.
Wreden however would not address the issue of why the recreational giant, which started out as the American Machine and Foundry Company in Brooklyn in 1900 and now operates close to 500 bowling centers across the U.S., did not negotiate a deal to allow the contracts to be honored.
“We had a business offer for this location, and evaluated the offer - it was very attractive,” Wreden said. “Negotiations went on for some time,” he said. “When the deal closed, it closed.”
Wreden said he was not privy to the details. “The real estate VP did the negotiations with whoever it was for the new occupant, with all the lawyers and everyone, and that’s what was worked out.” He would not identify the “retail outlet” which would take over. “I only talk about us,” he said.
Neither would Wreden identify the person who negotiated the deal - which left AMF’s customers two weeks short of finishing out the last of 40 seasons. “Even if you do talk to him, he’ll only tell you to talk to me,” Wreden said.
Hope is also fading for any last-minute reprieve for the threatened Woodhaven Lanes.
It had been reported that a meeting was scheduled for Friday, May 2, between Robert Corroon, CEO of Parkwill Management, which owns the property, John LaSpina, a bowling operator wishing to take over operations there, State Senator Serphin Maltese, Assemblymember Audrey Pheffer, City Council candidate Anthony Como and some local activists.
“Corroon said he wasn’t coming,” said save-the-lanes activist Jim Santora, “so LaSpina decided not to come, either.” Santora said that the night before, LaSpina had told him the negotiations seemed to be “going well.”
“We had the meeting anyway, to discuss what could be done to encourage them to keep the lanes open when we got a text message that the location was ‘going retail’,” Santora said, sounding dejected, “I guess that’s it.”
According to Santora, Parkwill Management, claiming that they are re-negotiating a mortgage on the property, said “the bank wanted an AA or AAA tenant.” He claims that Parkwill said their bank rejected LaSpina, although he has been successfully operating five other bowling alleys in the area for years.
“Corroon did say he’d talk to Brunswick one more time,” Santora said adding, “but I spoke to someone at Brunswick who didn’t believe their story.”
Repeated calls to Parkwill Management were not returned.
