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Plans to renovate and reopen the shuttered bowling alley on Sunset Avenue in Westhampton Beach, and construct two new commercial buildings next door, will likely move forward this fall, according to the project’s architect.
In late August, the architect, Donald Jewell of Southampton, said designs for the old Westhampton Bowl building and two new adjacent stores are “essentially complete,” and they will soon go before Westhampton Beach Village for review as part of the building permit application.
“It is coming along ... ” Mr. Jewell said of the application that calls for the reopening of the bowling alley once the work is completed.
Two Manhattan firms—Sunset West, LLC, and Teserra, LLC—own 87 Sunset Avenue, the bowling alley building, and 131 Sunset Avenue, the site of a former gas station that was located just north of Westhampton Bowl. Teserra applied in January 2008 to build a pair of two-story, 5,000-square-foot buildings on the former gas station lot. Sunset West applied the same month to change the façade of the bowling alley, which has been vacant since 2008.
The Westhampton Beach Planning Board approved the site plans for the projects late last year, according to Westhampton Beach Village Building and Zoning Administrator Paul Houlihan.
Mr. Jewell said he hopes the developers will have all their building permits in hand within the next four to six weeks. He said his client plans to break ground immediately after securing permission from the village.
“Hopefully, we will have some foundations in the ground very shortly,” he said.
Both Sunset West and Teserra are owned by Pan-Brothers Associates, a Manhattan development firm. George Pantelidis, CEO of Pan-Brothers Associates, was away on business and could not be reached for comment, according to his secretary.
In related news, Joe Albanese, who ran Westhampton Bowl from 2007 until it closed its doors in 2008, appears to have run into a snag in his latest bowling alley project. Bowl 58, a bowling alley that has been under construction on Route 58 in Riverhead, is now locked up in foreclosure proceedings filed by the Bank of Smithtown in June in State Supreme Court, according to court records. The claim states that Mr. Albanese’s company, Route 58, LLC, was not able to make its mortgage payments.
Court records also show that 23 companies have filed liens against Bowl 58, alleging that Mr. Albanese owes them more than $1.5 million for work they’ve done at the site.
Mr. Albanese did not return a call seeking comment. His attorney, Keith J. Singer, declined to comment when reached on Friday.
Will James on Sep 8, 2010