Kingpin to Finally Knock Bowling Alley Down

[XLFD]

Back in 2004, Bob Neal, Ludington businessman extraordinaire, purchased the Ludington Recreation Bowling Lanes property for three quarters of a million dollars.  Early in 2005, he predicted that he would be demolishing the building in the summer to make way for new development after seeking Brownfield Development tax-incentives.  New construction with eager developers were to begin in early 2006.  If you move to the 2nd page of that article he is quoted:  "It should be a wonderful addition to downtown, if all pieces come together.  If nothing else, it'll be a big eyesore gone."

 

For some unknown reason the pieces never came together, the Brownfield tax-incentives were never sought through the City, and the old bowling alley stood tall through 2005, and the only developers that showed up in 2006 were artists, as this January 2006 LDN article tells us in its last paragraph.  "... thanked Bob Neal, the building sponsor, for allowing them to decorate the (old bowling alley)."  

 

The building remained standing for a three more years until Bob Neal sought to get an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act (OPRA) certificate in 2009, just after the time Western Land Services were proposing an ambitious six-story headquarters where the Ludington Fire Department sits.  The full development would likely have involved Mr. Neal's property as well.  The City Council quickly passed the OPRA at this September 28, 2009 meeting (see p. 1), but WLS's project never developed.  The LFD still proudly sits where it is to this day, however, and so does the old bowling alley, as well as the OPRA tax break.

 

Now here it is more than two years beyond that, seven years after Bob Neal said that the building would be demolished, and find that it is going to be demolished in about two weeks.  According to today's Ludington Daily News, Neal plans to raze the old bowling alley and let the other structures stand, for now.  The old NAPA building will be graded so as to prevent water damage to its subroof.

 

According to Bob, the retail development he originally envisioned was nixed when he found broken roof trusses since the OPRA vote, and decided the building was not salvageable.  He and the City Council have not decided to revoke or annul the OPRA certificate accordingly, after all it has about ten years left on it, and Bob has a reputation of being well-loved by certain City Hallers.  So even if his expected investment ($150,000) and optimistic employee hiring will not be achieved, his property will still have that certificate.

 

"It's demolition would remove an eyesore from the downtown business district and also solve the problem of water leaking into the former NAPA building.  There's no practical use for the buildings as they are, they're not salvageable.  We are going to take it down, the middle section of it.  It's such an eyesore."

 

That eyesore thing hasn't changed for the better since you said it nearly eight years ago, Bob.  But the business climate sure has, for the worse, and with your ambiguous statement--  "I'm still on the same general idea (having retail and apartments at the site), but I don't know if I will do it-- I'm not getting any younger."-- we may find a gaping hole for a while where this eyesore once stood. 

[AQUAMAN]

Heaven, fyi, there is a spell checker on every computer program you can use to keep your grammar readable. Also, BN Sr. has been out of the ice cream biz. and retired for some years now. His son Jr. ran, then sold the operation years ago too. What's your ideas for this vacant downtown property to improve the area for the future?

[Heaven Therzke]

my smell checker works fine and its going off while i read your entry.  maybe we could make a park out of that one block and allow the bobs old house to take over some of the cities park next door. 

[AQUAMAN]

Whatever that means, your guess is as good as? Mularky or something like that! The spell checker is reached in start, computer management, then spell checker "on mode", is that any help? Good luck. Smell? Isn't that another area of the anatomy? PEW!

[XLFD]

Heaven, if that melted ice cream next to me on the pillow is tutti-fruity, I will be suspecting you were the visitor, not Bob. 

If it's rocky road ice cream, I'll figure I've been visited by CM John Shay, who has neglected the City's infrastructure over his tenure.

If it's Chunky Monkey ice cream, I wouldn't be surprised if the trail led me back to the mayor's house.

[Willy]

If the ice cream is sh-t brown and crunchy I would be sleeping with my eyes open.