Bowling alley and home in Ottawa sell for $95,000

The Pinheadz Entertainment Center in Ottawa, as well as a house on the property, was auctioned for $95,000 on Sunday afternoon.

Pinheadz, which originally opened as Dettore’s West Lanes back in 1956 at 1758 Ottawa Ave, and has been closed since June of 2019, was bought by Thomas Peterson of Seneca and his sons, Michael Peterson of Evanston, and Matthew Peterson of Seneca.

“We fully intend to keep it a bowling alley,” said Thomas, who added the family became aware of the opportunity from an ad in The Times. “Once we close on the purchase, we are hoping to take 30-60 days to clean and update things. The floor needs some work and I think we’re going to paint the front a light gray and spruce it up. We might also at some point blacktop the front parking area.”

The purchase included everything in the building, except possibly a pair of vending machines. which included: 14 43-inch flat-screen televisions used for keeping score, a Numark lighting control system, the touch screen scoring system, the ball return, every ball left in the building, the equipment left over in the kitchen, and all the equipment left over in the bar.

The Brunswick Bowling system stays as well, and it has a lifetime warranty, however, new rental shoes will have to be purchased.

A large parking lot, a tiki bar in the back garage, and the sandpit used for volleyball tournaments were also included in the purchase of the bowling alley.

Thomas said the house will be fixed up and rented out or possibly provided as living space for a working manager.

“We’ve heard that bowling might be a dying sport, I don’t know if that’s true, but if so we are going to try and bring it back here,” said Thomas. “We want to try to revitalize this and make it go. We want to get families in here as soon as we can and hopefully have some fun.

“I have always had a good time when I’ve gone bowling, so we are hoping to provide a place like that here to Ottawa and the surrounding community.”

The auction was handled by DeBolt Auction Services from Plano.