more on the bowling alley
Bowling 2.0: gastropub, microbrews and a hip, downtown location
Katie Daubs
Toronto Star
These men don’t look like bowlers. They sport pocket squares, Italian leather shoes and fitted blazers.
They are Thanos Tripi and Matty Tsoumaris, both involved in Toronto’s nightclub scene, Warren Needler and Andreas Antoniou, who work in film, and Paul Donato, who runs a wealth management firm. Between business meetings on Tuesday, they’re showing off the cavernous building that reeks of varnish as it is transformed into a bowling alley. Kim Mitchell crackles on a radio upstairs, singing of sodas and sobriety.
The Ballroom is slated to open in mid-December at the corner of Richmond and John. It will offer 10 lanes for tenpin bowling, ping pong tables, a gastropub and full service bar. This is bowling for the downtown crowd, complete with an executive chef and an official colour scheme that includes “oxblood.†Cheesy glow-in-the-dark bowling, this is not.
“We’re all young professionals and we know what our demographic wants,†says Antoniou.
The men are hoping to cash in on a shifting landscape of more condos and fewer night clubs in the heart of Toronto. They’re convinced downtowners will be willing to spend their money on bowling shoe rentals instead of tequila shots.
“The main reason I signed on was there’s no competition,†adds Donato.
The last downtown tenpin alley closed more than 30 years ago, said Jim Holmes, of the Greater Toronto Tenpin Bowling Association.
“If I won the lottery, I’d build lanes downtown,†he said.
While two of the alley’s backers are involved with the club scene, the target audience here is less Top 40, more Tom Petty.
The idea for a high-end bowling alley came from Needler and Antoniou’s Los Angeles days, where they worked in film. When Tsoumaris visited, the three university friends spent a lot of time in the city’s bowling hangouts.
When Tsoumaris returned to Toronto, he began looking for the right home for a downtown alley.
“We ran into this great space,†he said.
That was July. Renovations on the 20,000-square-foot building, which was most recently home to Montana nightclub, began in August. The bar is being topped with recycled bowling lanes; pins are being used as light fixtures. Art installations from the Queen West scene are in the works.
The only remnants of the Montana are a dozen toilets sitting on the patio. (“Our New York style washrooms,†Donato jokes.)
“It was very dark and nightclubby,†Tripi says as he walks around upstairs. “That’s not what we are.â€
The Ballroom will be open from 11 a.m. until 2 a.m., leaving plenty of time for league play and corporate events between hipster nights. Tawfik Shehata, formerly of Vertical, will be chef.
The Ballroom team has poured $4 million into the Toronto location and has plans for a national rollout in other major Canadian cities.
Pricing is still being determined but Tripi said it will be in line with other boutique alleys. (Lucky Strike, an upscale alley in Vaughan, charges $45 per hour per lane, and $65 per hour per lane on weekends after 9 p.m.)
Ajith Balakuganathan, the manager of the Bathurst Bowlerama, doesn’t see the downtown lanes as competition.
“They’re going to get a lot of customers, people who are tired of going to clubs every day,†he said. “Might as well try something else.â€
http://www.thestar.com/news/article...b-microbrews-and-a-hip-downtown-location?bn=1
