We definitely need another bowling alley. Let's keep Lemont dollars in Lemont and offer entertainment locally for the youth and adults.

Let's keep the bowling alley a bowling alley - it's great more businesses are coming to town, but many are duplicates which takes dollars from other existing businesses.

I agree with Pat. Lemont should have it's own bowling alley. It was a mistake for the owner to cut the # of lanes. Including a pizza kitchen was a good idea but the cost of the pizza was high and the quality was average. Another mistake was to eliminate the Uptown Grill that used to be there. It offered the best breakfast in town and was priced right. Installing the large private rooms was a waste of space. The kitchen is also larger than it needed to be. The place has a good location and a town-full of people that would go there if it had the right format.

Paul Scheufler
Expert Realty Services, Inc

A bowling alley...where will the high school gym classes go to bowl now?

I don't bowl, but ever since I moved to Lemont in 1952 there has been a bowling alley at that location. I, too, agree with the other comments that a bowling alley should remain at that location to offer family entertainment for all ages. I even contacted 2 major bowling alley chains via e-mail to let them know about the availability of the property, but to no avail.......guess a private citizen doesn't have the right "pull". It's a shame that we have to go "out-of-town" for so many things!

You should be asking this question about Twin Rivers and the Jaguar Club. Those are the properties that the citizens of Lemont bought for $1.4 million plus demolition and redevelopment costs.
Did we buy a bowling alley too?

This bldg is likely to become an eye sore. Why? The property taxes and million dollar plus price tag make it hard for any business to make any money there. So, to elimninate the taxes we need to do a joint governmental venture and have the Village and Park District buy the place. Keep it a bolwing alley and lease time (memo bill only) to the schools for their programs. Have leagues and open bowling for Lemonters at a reduced fee. For the general public at regular fees. Leave the pizza operation and replace the booze at the bar with a "fruit bar" or kiddie drink bar. Turn the place into a teen center; meaning a place where they can hang out. Add a game room with a lot of arcade machines and schedule birthday parties and the like, for a fee, as does Chuckee Cheeez. This will eliminate the high taxes and a bligthed area with an abandoned building. It creates a place for teens to hang out...at the bar and drink heathfull drinks, play arcade games, celebrate birthdays, watch tv, have a snack, and, do some bowling. Kids are always looking for a hangout. With some proper human factor engineering we might be able to create a business model that could be copied across the country. Our governmental bodies have to buy the building out of foreclosure in order to get a lower price. The overall management of the place would have to be the Park District where they have some expertiese and the charter to venture into a money making proposition. If it broke even...it would be a winner!

Perfect situation for someone to come in and make this a Big Lebowski themed Bowling Alley! You will need minimal renovations since the BA in the movie was kind of old and grimy. You can touch up the facade a bit and expand the bar to make it a place that is more attractive to people who spend money while keeping the integrity of The Dude. I don't think this needs to be a kids hang out, especially since kids/younger people don't have much money or at least the money a place like this will need to generate to stay open. You need to maximize the bar area (the real money maker) and some how use the unique shape of the building to include a Roof Deck Bar area for the warmer months on the massive space up there. This will make it a unique destination that would hopefully attract people from neighboring communities. If you look towards the trends in the Bowling Alley industry they are all about having a really nice bar/lounge tied to a bowling experience. Pinstripes and Lucky Stripe kind of lead the way in what consumers want in a bowling alley. There are plenty of "Pin Monkey" type League Lanes around so what are you going to do to attract different clientele? You have to have a fresh concept that borrows off successes of similar businesses. Also didn't the previous owners make some bad investments and mismanage their financials causing them to shutter? So this place was able to stay afloat prior to that financial snafu and should be able to stay afloat again! The Dude Abide's

Problem is the lanes have been neglected for about 10 years and they were in rough shape then. For the high school to return (they left years ago) and to get leagues, it would have to be USBC certified.
New lanes, scoring, probably pin setters. It would cost hundreds and hundreds of thousands to get the the place running as a real bowling alley again and not just a bar and pizza place. And Lemont already has some great bars and pizza places.

And i was talking about the high school bowling teams... i don't know if the gym classes still bowled there.

Ed, the village does not need another peice of business property. We already have two questionable commercial properties.

That property is Better left in private hands. What does the bowling alley pay $30k or better in property taxes per year? As government property it comes off the tax rolls for every every jurisdiction including the already under funded school districts.
Seems like an enormous amount of spend for entertainment. Seems like we just had a multiple million dollar recreation center built.

Now you worry about 1 business. OPEN YOUR EYES. The service station , Wendys, the old true value, How many other vacant properties thru out town. Every new business will need a tax break if you ever expect to fill these vacancies.

i think we should treat it like the green bay packers, everyone in town ownes a share in the property. Everyone puts in a couple of dollars and receives a dividen at the end of each year. This way we control whatcomes in and out of Lemont, keeping it a great community.

It honestly can only function as a bowling alley needed tens of thousands of dollars to repair... If you have liquor you have to sell food.. It's property taxes are about 40,000 a year... It's a big facility ... Needs a new roof and I think 4 of the ac/heat units need to be replaced being 20-30 years old... If you have the money sure ... For 1.7 mil... No way
Such a shame

I am the Realtor for the sellers. Taxes are approx. 34,000/yr. We reduced price to 1.5 mil. This is a short sale and bank will look at all offers!! Alot of work/updating has been done to the property. Bldg is over 20k sq/ft and it sits on almost 2 acres of land. If anyone has questions, please feel free to email me at mary.cook@cbexchange.com. I have had offers on the property and there has been alot of interest which is a good sign.

The work and updating was done by me.. And still a lot more to go... Also I was never paid for that work.. And even 1.5 mil is ridiculous... Build a new bowling alley in town... The lanes maybe salvageable but the machines with all the rubber and nylon just sitting for months is pretty much garbage.if you are interested in buying bring a plumber and a roofer with you. Good Luck!!!

I agree with Ed....make it a teen/family center.....
I just read the Lemont "Memory Maker"....there are 3 events planned in the fall for teens... and only 1 for teens older than 15....! Again...hardly nothing for teens in Lemont.
Also, we bought that land and paid for demolition of the blds...http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/lemont/newsnow/x2095084835/Village-of-Lemont-demolishes-Two-Rivers-and-Jaguar-Club
Would seem like this is a great traffic area....here goes my suggestion again of something like the Bolingbrook Promenade for this site.

Kerry...maybe you didn't understand what I was talking about..I "mean" what does the city of Lemont itself have for teenagers??
I'm a single parent....its not as easy...
Can you name some things?...besides the Core....and the Lemont pool is for kiddies....what a waste with that remodeling.

Mr. Smith, what exactly do you mean when you say "teen/family center"?

It should be a family center... That was the intentions

I don't think we should be turning into a town-owned "teen center." First, that would bleed money. Second, why do we need to provide yet another facility for teens to use for their oh-so-important entertainment? They have a skate park, The Core, the park district, multiple parks with basketball courts and baseball diamonds. There's a movie theater relatively nearby in Woodridge and a mall in Bolingbrook that is fairly close as well. There's also a LIBRARY, that is more than willing to help teens, children, and adults get entertainment in all types of media.

When I was a kid (not long ago), we had a YMCA a few miles away and a couple of the fire departments had pools for families to swim at. Between these and the basic outdoor parks available to us, it was enough. I don't see why we need to coddle kids even more and more to the point where they are dependent on us for everything, including their own (lack of) boredom.

Marie, if you told your parents you were bored, they gave you a chore to do.

Family center to me is somewhere the family can go eat and have fun... Entertainment for all ages... Not just kids.. At night obviously an adult theme... But when the kids are off school... A place for them to go hang out and stay out of trouble

Ok....let Lemont buy the bld and land and demolish it......
Very good library for the most part...the skate park is a joke...
And there we go....send the teens..and adults out of Lemont to Woodridge and Bolingbrook etc to spend their time/money....Oh...wait...I forgot we have a Kohls and Target ! Not to presume anything..but do you work Kerry?
Someone could make it into an off track betting site....for the adults of course !

The problem with anything aimed directly at teens seems to be that many (most?) teens dont want to be told "here is an activity for you - now go hang out in this specific place". We used to cruise state street between Feebs & McDonalds then park & hang out at Lemon Tree (when it was on the West side of State St.). The "Teen Club" was where the Township offices are now on Warner (Park District took it over in 1975) but we never hung out there.

Good point....

Okay, I'm really not trying to be a smart aleck but I don't get this whole "family center" thing. Thinking back to my teenage years (long ago), and my kids' teen years the last place a teen wants to be seen is hanging with their parents. As far as the "...go eat and have fun...entertainment for all..." like what? That's what I'm trying to find out. What kind of entertainment? Music? Games? Like a Chucky Cheese for older people? And why should the public be expected to pay for this? My parents raised 8 kids, husband and I raised 3 and we didn't expect the public to pay to watch/entertain our kids above and beyond the what was available at the park district, schools and library. If our kids wanted to play sports, be in a band, take dance lessons, etc. they either did it through a school/park district program and if it wasn't available through one of those places we worked our duppas off to pay for it. We certainly didn't expect anyone else to do our job. How and why has that changed in one generation? I think the next time I see the kids hanging around over at the park by my house I'm going to go over there and ask them what, if anything, they'd like to see.

Before it becomes an eye sore? That ship has already sailed.
As of this morning you have severely peeling paint on every side of the building, weeds up to your knees and a generally dirty and disheveled appearance.

I like the OTB...idea we need revenue in this town to ease the burden on the homeowners.

Maybe a teen hangout isn't what is needed... As for Lemont buying that site yeah sure... Not anywhere near the asking price... Why should the tax payers pay for other peoples mistakes??? I personally wishes the lanes were not in such dissaray ... A bowling alley is something for all ages and all walks of life to do ... Even the handicapped can be accommodated .... It's a shame

Moe: a trader joe's in town would be great.... but I doubt trader Joe's would be interested in a 62 year old building that has had 3 or 4 additions over the years.

If one analyzes the types of areas that Trader Joe's move into, one clearly sees that require a high amount of traffic to exist PRIOR to ever moving in (Orland, Glen Ellyn, LaGrange). Trader Joe's is not just going to waste their time and money in the hopes that someday Lemont will become a destination barely for its own residents and also the surrounding communities. Not to mention, they'd have to pay full price for the building, demolish it, and then build their own store. There's no business sense in any of that.

It doesn't help that the civil planning (or lack thereof) in Lemont was done DECADES ago. There's very few ways in and out of town and has anyone ever tried explaining to someone how to get to downtown Lemont that has never been here and does not have a GPS? It's a nightmare.

There are real, practical reasons why other towns with similar demographics do better than Lemont and one of them is simply their geographical locations and how convenient it is to get in and out of them.

Everyone keeps on going on and on about "teen" and "family" centers. What are these mythical places? Are they places where food is served? We have plenty of diverse options there, from cheap to upscale and plenty in between. Does it mean someplace where kids can hang out? Oh, we have that too, in the form of our park districts, gyms, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, church rec centers, hiking trails, etc.

How much more is the local township supposed to be providing? Seriously, if people require a "center" of some sort to provide entertainment in some form, people need to think about getting a hobby or at the very least, riding a bicycle.

Also, take it from someone who wasn't a teen all that long ago. No teen would be caught dead going to a "teen center" and even if the town were somehow able to do away with the stigma of it being an adult-sponsored activity, you'd still have plenty of trouble there to contend with. Teenagers are jerkstores when there's only a couple of them together. Put 10 or more together and that's an exceedingly immature, hormone fueled mob.

You know my wife said it best ... We want every customer that is out there.. The person.that was out till three in the morning from Friday night. Isn't going to be bowling Saturday morning... Meaning we have to change our venue constantly to accommodate the customer... Of
Course then she got pissed cause of all that is going on and etc. but the point being a place that can accommodate kids at times... Family's at times... Teens at times... And adults all the time.. I think that's what was needed... And still needed ....Personal opinion

How about something along these lines: http://www.bolvail.com/
We moved here from Chicago a year ago, and it seems that we're always driving 10-15 minutes for variety in food and entertainment. Bringing in an upscale restaurant / bar / bowling alley might encourage people from other localities to visit Lemont.

Colin, that's very similar to what was already there--bowling, bar and restaurant. It didn't work, for whatever reason. And "upscale" just means more expensive, not necessarily better.

And I also noticed in comments above Lottie did not buy the the bowling alley for 50,000 nor did Vito and nicks buy the bowling alley for 95,000 those number are ridiculous the land alone is worth 10 fold of those numbers... Rick(see above)

It would be nice to have a roller rink in town. Good old fashioned fun....include a Malt shop and deli......

There's always money in the banana stand.

Lemont is different...you have a large Ethnic population...a lot of which I think do not eat out...although "Old Town" restaurant seems to always be doing well...
I will agree with Colin though....To really do anything ...I end up going out of Lemont...
Heck...even Homer Glen has A "Chili's "....

It would be great to have the bowling alley open again. However the previous owners let the place go. If someone was to buy the place it would need all new lanes, new scoring system, new bathrooms, carpet, and the ceiling would have to be replaced, electrical is not code, roof leaks HVAC system is old and is not in working order. Outside needs paint and parking lot needs to be replaced. I guess $600,000 to $700,000 dollars in improvements in order to get the place up and running. Unless you can get the property for under $300,000, I think that it may become an eyesore. We really could use an entertainment venue in Lemont. I hope someone will be committed to the Village and take on this project.

and now that the Vito & Nicks sign panels have been removed (leaving only the frame & base) it looks even worse (if that is possible)

Ok...here is an idea for you. We need a business that sells big ticket items so the Village reaps the sales tax revenue thus creating the desire to work with said business. So, how about a marine/boat sales operation. Enough land and buldings exist and, to top it off, we lease them some of our quarry property for in water boat shows and as a secondary in water sales lot.The stats on boating in illinois might just support a venture like this. If it goes well we could open the quarry to the Canal and have a marina and yacht club. Three or four hundred boats in a marina might just jazz up Lemont a bit.

(A quick disclaimer before I get flack...I do own a house directly behind the bowling alley and six acres in the quarry.)

Spencer , you are right about Aldi and Trader Joes. They are owned by different members of the same family. They share nothing between them even tho they are family.

Of note, I was at The Core on Wednesday. Late afternoon and it was beautiful out. Driving over there and through the parking lot, I noticed a few things. The pool was nearly devoid of patrons, the tennis courts empty, the basketball courts looked as though no one had ever bricked a shot on the boards ever, the two playgrounds had a handful of kids playing at best, the skate park was collecting dust, and in the Core with open gym going on, there were nobody but adults shooting hoops. So who would be building a "teen center" for exactly?

When I was a kid (not so very long ago), all the kids hung out at one of two places. Either the Hurley Elementary lot where there were a few swings and we had a box painted on the wall for speed pitch, or the underbelly of Ford City Hill, which amounted to a train graveyard. We did not require the community to finance our entertainment. We were required to make our own.

I throw enough money at teenagers as is. Not throwing additional funding at something that would just fall to pieces due to kids not leaving the warm confines of their Xbox or facebook.

Remember once upon a time, when you could be among your friends/peers as a kid and say "hey fat kid" and one kid would turn around to answer? "Fat kid" was pretty much one kid's name. Now, it's a over-arching term for a generation.

Actually Ace Hardware was to go where the Aldi is now. The Ace backed out at the last minute.

Dave & Busters sounds good to me! Fun for the whole family.

How about a nice small movie theatre that could take and play movies after they have been out for a few weeks. Kind of like Tivoli theatre.