New owners will renovate Morgan Hill Bowl in Tennant Station
with hopes of opening by Labor Day
A pair of local entrepreneurs are hoping their latest business endeavor strikes a chord with Morgan Hill residents and gets the ball rolling for local bowlers to head back to the Morgan Hill Bowl.
Early last week Steven Serchia and his partner signed a lease for the Morgan Hill Bowl in Tennant Station next the Cinelux movie theater with hopes local residents will want to bowl a few frames after they renovate the bowling alley that has been closed for the last four years.
Though there still is plenty of red tape left to handle until the bowling alley is allowed to open again, Serchia said they hope to open the alley this fall, possibly by Labor Day.
“We still got a lot of work to do with the city,” Serchia said. “We want to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.”
The plan calls for a complete refurbishing of the 25,851 square-foot property and the 32 lanes, including merging neighboring Betsy’s Lounge with the alley. Serchia said they are also eying an additional 2,000 square feet for future expansion.
Serchia said they plan to completely redesign the look of the alley. He said he wants to make everything completely automated, from the entryway to the scoring and even the bumpers for the kids.
Serchia said he wants to move the bar into the site formerly occupied by the French Cleaners, which closed in February. The area would then become a billiards hall and snack bar.
The existing 32 lanes will be torn out and completely replaced. But the wood will be recycled: Serchia said he will make the old lanes into tables and counter tops to keep a nostalgic feel.
He also wants to incorporate Betsy’s Restaurant by providing customers a full menu as well as the normal “finger food.”
Ultimately, Serchia wants to turn Morgan Hill Bowl into a family-friendly place where children can have a birthday party, parents can relax and teens can have a first date.
The allure of the bowling alley is nothing new for Serchia. His family established a bowling alley in Saratoga and his brother-in-law has been in the business for several years. However, Serchia said he was drawn to the idea of opening a bowling alley in Morgan Hill because he likes the community and believes bowling provides a fun activity for families.
After working with UPS for 11 years and later at a formal clothing store where he only had a few days off per year, Serchia said he knew it was time for a career change. Having lived in Morgan Hill before moving to Gilroy, Serchia said he thought residents would appreciate having their own bowling alley again.
Serchia and his partner looked at Morgan Hill and other cities in the area extensively before making their final decision. They found that most bowlers in the San Jose area were traveling from Morgan Hill, Gilroy and Hollister.
“People in Morgan Hill don’t want to have to drive all the way to San Jose if they want to do something,” Serchia said. “This will be the hub for something for the people in Morgan Hill to do.”
Jessie Nazzal, owner of neighboring Betsy’s Restaurant, said bringing back the bowling alley will be a positive change for Morgan Hill.
“The community needs it,” Nazzal said. “There is nothing to do here for the kids besides the movie theaters and the aquatics center. The place will be a good thing, keeping kids in doors and giving them something to do.”
The opening of the bowling alley is expected early fall of this year, assuming the city approves the plans and construction stays on time.
Morgan Hill’s Chief Building Official Larry Ford said the process with the city could be very quick assuming all the renovations take place on the interior.
Ford said his office would handle the entire process, moving the application along to the necessary agencies and departments.
So long as complete plans are submitted, including all structural and electrical renovations required by the state, the process could take as little as five to 10 days to gain approval.
Serchia estimates all the renovations could be completed in six to eight weeks. He said he wanted to have everything done by Labor Day weekend, but conceded that might be overly optimistic.
Regardless of how long the process takes, Serchia said he was pleased with the response he has received from the community and Terracommercial Real Estate, the agency that owns Tennant Station.
“None of this would have come to fruition without Mike LaBarbera,” Serchia said. “He really wants something down here.”
