A pile of rubble now lies bare where the former Bowl Long Island, which closed in November 2021, once stood on Division Street in Patchogue.
“The completion and removal are imminent,” said James Manicone of JM2 Architecture DPC, the lead firm. The building was razed by West Avenue Partners LLC, the developer of the Tempo by Hilton project.
Construction documents have begun, and “we will endeavor to be issued a building permit in late spring for construction to begin immediately thereafter,” Manicone said. “We anticipate an approximate two-year build and a grand opening in the spring of 2028.”
Manicone explained some of the first steps:
“Once we start construction, all the piles go into the ground for the foundation,” he said. “It will be a steel and concrete creation, a condition of non-combustible construction. The hotel itself will have 99 keys with 13 luxury apartments, event space, ground floor retail shops, café, plaza area for outdoor dining and relaxation, along with a rooftop restaurant overlooking the marina and the Great South Bay.”
The 2.19-acre hotel site at 138 West Avenue and Division Street, where the bowling alley once stood, is just steps away from the Watch Hill Ferry Terminal and the Patchogue River. Manicone added: “Currently adjacent is a recharge basin which is wooded and will be redeveloped into a park [while] still serving as a recharge basin for storm water. You can stay in the park, walk along the marina, and go to the ferry. The hotel will serve as a central connecting point from the LIRR across the street to the ferry and Main Street as it currently exists.”
Mayor Paul Pontieri, who was hoping for an April start, said the agreed-upon demolition stipulation was that the owner had to begin by December 1. “They started on Nov. 30,” he said. “They had to take it down . If they didn’t meet the deadline, it would cost us $750,000 with prevailing wages and bond policies; for them, an estimated $250,000.”
The take-down was a process.
“You take down as much infrastructure, steel, and concrete so they can resell it,” Pontieri explained. “Then construction debris is sorted. It’s a complex procedure and not just a knockdown.”
Any remaining bowling alley equipment was sold, Pontieri added.
Greater Patchogue Historical Society treasurer Steve Lucas said he attempted to secure items for the society’s museum, which is headquartered in the Carnegie Library.
“They had a yard sale there, and I spoke to the owner three or four years ago. I wanted to see if I could get souvenirs for the museum. [Village clerk] Lori Devlin went in just before it was taken down and was able to get an automatic controller to reset the pins before they started the demo.”
Pontieri, who noted that the bowling alley had been a popular venue for years, was asked whether he himself had attended. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Everybody did. It goes as far back as the 1950s.”
But the empty site had recently become troublesome due to building break-ins.
“The homeless camped out there. Public Safety patrolled a lot because it became problematic,” he said.
Pontieri pointed to the area’s historic background. Besides the bowling alley, it was the Bailey’s Mills at one time. According to Steve Lucas’s book Patchogue: Past & Present, Bailey’s Lumber Mills was one of the largest and most successful lumber mills of its time, supplying lumber and millwork for a majority of the South Shore homes built.
According to the Patchogue-Medford Library digital archives, an ad for the Edwin F. Bailey Lumberyard and Molding Mill dates as far back as 1897; it went out of business in 1939.
