Property owner defends plan to raze Deer Park bowling alley, build storage: 'It's business'

A beloved Deer Park bowling alley has been a failing business for years, according to the property owner, who wants to demolish the building and construct a self-storage facility.

Joseph Giaquinto, owner of the more than 58,000-square-foot lot on Long Island Avenue between Irving and Eastwood avenues where Strike 10 Lanes sits, last week addressed residents at a meeting of the Deer Park Community Association. Giaquinto is head of LAG Associates LLC, which has applied to the Town of Babylon for the property to be rezoned from business and residence to industry. Giaquinto wants to tear down the 16-lane bowling alley and build a two-story, 38,000-square-foot Public Storage facility.

At a town planning board hearing on the matter in July, dozens of people showed up to voice their love and support for the bowling alley, calling it a symbol of community. They also hailed the alley’s owner, Lou Seda, who has been running the business since 2014. Bowling enthusiasts said Seda discounts games for youth teams and accommodates special-needs children.

Giaquinto told residents the bowling alley is a “dying business” and that he wants to build something on the site that would not attract a lot of traffic or other problems for the community. The building has been operating as a bowling alley since 1959, according to town records.

Resident Dave Fekete, 30, told Giaquinto he thought the storage facility is a “ridiculous” idea. Fekete disputed the portrayal of the bowling alley as a dying business, telling Newsday that he regularly goes to Strike 10 and “it’s full” with bowlers.

“I think your whole project is cancerous,” he told Giaquinto, noting other storage facilities nearby.

“We see a whole bunch of storage facilities, but there wouldn’t be a lot of them if people didn’t use them, so obviously people have a need for them,” said Cherryl Spencer, the association’s board secretary.

“The bowling alley is pretty much out of business,” Giaquinto told Fekete. “If the bowling alley is unsuccessful and doesn’t make money and if you own the property, are you going to pay the taxes and insurance …? That’s what it comes down to, it’s business.”

Giaquinto told Newsday that Seda’s $5,000-a-month rent is “minimal” and that he was “paying three times that” before the COVID pandemic.

Seda did not respond to requests for comment.

Association leaders pointed out that Main Event, a national restaurant and bar chain with locations in Farmingdale and Plainview, plans to open up in the Tanger Outlets in Deer Park, less than a mile away from Strike 10 Lanes, and offer bowling there. On its website, Main Event, which has games such as laser tag, promises a May 18 opening and 20 bowling lanes at the location.

Resident Ellen Britt, 83, said she used to take her grandson to the bowling alley and that her senior center in Wyandanch takes members there weekly.

“We have so many of them in the neighborhood,” she said of storage facilities. “[Giaquinto] said they’re full, I don’t know. We have basements, garages, so it’s probably stuff that people should get rid of anyway.”

The Babylon Town Board must decide on the zoning change. Town spokesman Ryan Bonner said a public hearing on it will be scheduled for May 13.