The Park Avenue Lanes, a bowling facility in Aiken, is scheduled to reopen later this year after a hiatus that began in 2013.
A large portion of the building is in the process of being demolished, and it will be rebuilt, owner Danny Zielinski told the Aiken Standard on Thursday.
He also shared architectural drawings with the newspaper.
Zielinski said he hopes to start offering bowling there again to the public “in six or eight months.
“I’m not sure of the exact date,” he continued. “It depends on the weather.”
Park Avenue Lanes is on the corner of Park Avenue and Orangeburg Street.
The address is 1100 Park Ave. S.E.
Zielinski said he has owned Park Avenue Lanes since 2005.
“Unfortunately, the roof collapsed on the Park Avenue side (of the building) on May 6, 2013,” he added, as the result of storm damage.
Park Avenue Lanes has been closed since then.
“The insurance claim and getting funding slowed down the rebuilding process,” Zielinski said.
His history with the bowling alley began long before the tenure of his ownership.
He said his parents, Jim and Pat Chapman, owned the facility from 1971 until 1978.
Zielinski worked at Park Avenue Lanes after school as a pin chaser.
“I went to AMF Pinspotter Maintenance School in 1975,” he said. “I am a certified pinspotter maintenance mechanic.”
Park Avenue Lanes was known as Strike and Spare Lanes for a while after his parents sold it, Zielinski said. His connection with the facility continued because other owners employed him as a mechanic.
Zielinski currently is the president of the Aiken County USBC Bowling Association.
USBC stands for United States Bowling Congress.
“I am a Level 1 certified coach,” he said. “I currently have seven 300 games and three 800 series. In 2003, I received the Aiken County Bowling Association Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contributions to bowling. It’s a passion of mine to bowl.”
That passion is one of the reasons Zielinski wants to reopen Park Avenue Lanes.
In addition, “Aiken needs a place for families to go for entertainment,” he said. “Aiken has supported the bowling center in the past, and I hope they will continue to in the future.”
Zielinski said he is keeping the Park Avenue Lanes name “in memory of my parents.”
According to the Park Avenue Lanes’ website, the facility was a United States Bowling Congress-certified bowling center with 16 wood lanes prior to the roof collapse.
Aiken has been without a bowling alley since the shutdown of StrikeHouse Bowl on Whiskey Road in December 2017.
A Taco Bell is being constructed on the former StrikeHouse Bowl site.
For more information about Zielinski’s bowling alley, visit the Park Avenue Lanes page on Facebook or parkavelanes.com.
