Plans to replace the storied Whitestone Bowling Lanes in Flushing, Queens, with over 400 apartments got the stamp of approval from the City Council on Thursday, the final step in a rezoning process that has meant the end of the beloved bowling alley.
The Council’s unanimous decision to green-light the proposal means the lanes’ days are likely numbered. Owner and developer Marco Macaluso will still have to go through the typical construction hurdles, but the rezoning means he has the ability to develop a residential property on the site.
“I’m very excited for me and the community. It’s a great thing we’ve done and accomplished,” Macaluso said of the news. “A lot of housing, affordable housing, which the city really desperately needs. And everybody should be happy, very, very happy.”
Thursday’s Council vote was the culmination of a monthslong rezoning process that had been in the works for roughly six years. The plan will bring a nine-story, 95-foot-tall apartment building with 415 units, about 113 of which will be affordable. The complex will also have a public plaza.
The Macaluso family built Whitestone Lanes in the 1960s. It’s been a staple for bowlers ever since, and was once described as “the absolute best bowling alley in New York.” The News first reported on redevelopment plans in June, to the devastation of longtime bowlers.
“Most of the bowling alleys have gone, they’ve disappeared,” Angel Pabon, a patron of 15 years, said at the time. “The fun of bowling is just being taken away. Real estate [interests] are buying them.”
But Macaluso offered a glimmer of hope for disappointed patrons bowled over by the news.
“We’re going to try to relocate and get a new bowling alley not too far away,” he said. “So they should just stay tuned, and hopefully we can find a location and make a deal and move to somewhere nearby.”
And while he’s anxious to build the housing, he said it could be six months to a year before that happens.
Lawyer Eric Palatnik told the subcommittee on zoning and franchises last month that the redevelopment project was all but “shovel-ready.”
“He’s ready to build tomorrow,” Palatnik said of Macaluso, though he added that negotiations with third parties about construction were ongoing at the time.
Macaluso confirmed on Thursday that a deal had not yet been struck with a construction company. But he was nonetheless thrilled that his redevelopment plans are moving ahead.
“It’s a great day for the neighborhood. Everybody should be happy for jobs, for housing and affordable housing as well,” he told The News. “And we might get a new bowling alley not too far away.”
