City You Want Bowling?
posted by on March 18 at 10:42 AM
Roll up your sleeves and grab a checkbook. Via the Ballard News-Tribune.
A citizen-led effort to save another longtime community gathering place got a boost last week when the new owners of the Sunset Bowl property agreed to consider incorporating a bowling alley into its development plans, which would demolish the 30-year-old local landmark.“We are definitely open to considering a bowling operation in our development,” said [AvalonBay Communities’ Brian] Fritz. Avalon will also evaluate whether the bowling alley could remain open for business until they are ready to break ground, which is scheduled for summer 2009. But Fritz said the day-to-day operations would have to be managed by the community.
Jim Bristow, a local independent contractor, and yes, a bowler, has championed the effort, circulating dozens of petitions. More than 2,500 Ballard residents have signed their support.
But Fritz said there’s a “delicate balance” between residential and commercial aspects of mixed-use buildings. For instance, it would be difficult to manage a 24-hour commercial operation on the ground floor of a residential building.
Now, Bristow is working out a plan to secure a working staff and buy the bowling equipment from the previous owner before it’s auctioned off. That would run several thousand dollars and he’s not sure where those funds would come from yet.
Do it for the children at http://www.savesunsetbowl.com.
Thanks to tipper Sara of the Hinterland.
This is the best news I will hear all week.
I for one would jump at the chance to live in an apartment above a 24-hour bowling alley. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that way.
Bowling and condos: A match made in Ballard.
I have a sinking feeling it's not as obvious to others as it is to me, but I'll pose the rhetorical question anyway:
Know why no one's ever tried to build living spaces directly above a bowling alley?
@4. it might not look like your average bowling alley, but i'm sure it can be done.
and the idea is totally awesome.
Agreed, awesome++. wouldn't want to live there, but sure would go.
The look is not the problem, Geoffrey. It's the reverb and the noise. Bowling produces a lot of noise. Multiply the sound of a 16 pound sphere of marble striking a wooden floor, rolling down a wooden lane and striking several wooden pins times a couple dozen or however many lanes are in the alley, plus the typical ambient noises of a social environment, even if a single dead floor can somehow buffer all that noise from residents, the structural vibrations of all the bowling alone will create a nuisance for residents.
You just never notice any of this outside a bowling alley because most bowling alleys are solitary structures surrounded by open air, or in nightlife environments where there's so much other noise it's not discernible.
Living spaces aren't built above bowling alleys for a reason.
They would have to make some special effort to help dampen the noise of the bowling activities, but it seems entirely feasible (though unlikely) to me.
Consider Lucky Strikes in Bellevue's Lincoln Square. They share a building with an almost adjacent movie theater and apartments. It would seem like that configuration would be in conflict. So, is it?
@7 bowling balls aren't made of marble, most bowling alleys use a synthetic floor, and standing outside smoking at sunset I can hear none of the bowling alley noise.
The idea of living above a bowling alley I think is more dangerous than me living above my favorite bar.
@7. true, i was mostly thinking of the structural concerns, not the noise. i was thinking of the alley underground with the garage between the alley and the units.... and as 8 points out, bowling alleys next to other businesses has been done.
the problem, i think, would be the cost. and it still might look rather strange. ambient noise? yeah, a unit about a 24 hour lane would probably not be a selling point.
i think it's highly unlikely that it would happen. but i applaud the developers for at least giving the idea consideration. and if they did pull it off... well... that would be pretty sweet.
oh, but i hope nobody's thinking of lucky strikes type of alley. i was hoping for a sunset type. but maybe the lucky strikes is the only new type of alley that would work in a new condo...
Movie sound is far easier to buffer, mainly because it doesn't involve stone impacting floor and wood and the resulting impact reverbing through the walls. Dolby Surround Sound is easier to filter with curtains.
Also, admittedly not having been to the Lucky Strikes complex, how many lanes do they have? And how is the building configured? Are the apartments right over the alley, as they would be in this proposed idea? Is the alley in the basement? Is it well entrenched? It's easy to say, "Oh, this one example works," without detailing the actual configuration. And at this point, I'll have to pay it a visit in the near future just to make sure anyone who responds isn't blowing smoke up my ass.
Also, keep in mind it's easy to say something is feasible when you're not the one who actually has to a) make it work or b) convince a contractor to do what it takes to make it work. Most developers would rather pull the wool over, make you think it'll work, and run off with the money by the time everyone realizes it doesn't and they're left holding the bag.
I stayed at a hotel in Moscow that had a bowling alley on the main floor, and I don't remember it being disruptive to the rest of the hotel's functions.
#12: Google it, condo buildings with ground floor bowling alleys already exist.
Give me some B&M addresses, sock puppets, or can it.
@12: Bowling balls are plastic, not stone.
"I live above a bowling alley . . . and below another bowling alley!"
No matter the material, Orv, it doesn't change the volume or the fact it's a rock-hard 12-16 pound mass.
Comments Closed
In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).