Pali Lanes faces another challenge: It’s been put on a month-to-month lease

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The property lease between landowner Alexander & Baldwin and Pali Lanes will change to month-to-month on Feb. 2.

Supporters of the bowling alley said it's a big blow.

“It prevents us from having any long-term contracts with leagues,” said Christian Arakawa, of Team Save Pali Lanes. “Leagues operate on contracts up to 48 weeks. We cannot honor that based on the way the lease is set up."

Pali Lanes part-owner Art Machado said three bowling leagues didn't renew their contracts because of the coming change, including a Friday league that brought in about $10,000 a night.

"That's a lot of income for a month when you still have to pay your bills," he said.

In a statement, A&B communications director Lynn Kenton said: “We have supported our bowling tenant for six years and with no formal materials from them to indicate a viable long-term plan, they will be reverting to the month-to-month terms they operated under before 2018.”

She said A&B also provided Pali Lanes free rent for eight and a-half months over the last two years that saved the bowling alley $91,800.

"That money that was saved we flushed it right back into the bowling alley in the form of paying off the AC debt," Arakawa said.

Pali Lanes has reduced hours to cut costs and lowered prices to try to attract more business. Save Pali Lanes has partnered with HPU business students to form a business plan and public relations strategy.

"As long as we can continue to pay everything we can stay open," Arakawa said.

A&B said in response to community feedback it’s exploring options to “both preserve bowling and preserve the building at 120 Hekili Steet.”

The month-to-month lease is the latest step.

Here’s the full statement from Alexander & Baldwin:

Alexander & Baldwin is exploring options to both preserve bowling and preserve the building at 120 Hekili Street, following responses from our 2018 community survey sent to 16,000 households and other engagement efforts.

Beginning in 2013 when A&B entered the Kailua market, we honored the current bowling operator’s pre-existing month-to-month lease and rent level for an additional four years or until 2017. During this time, the tenant indicated financial difficulty, so A&B changed the 2018 lease to a one-year term in order to record four-months of rent relief.

We extended the one-year lease in 2019, with four and one-half months of rent relief. In total, the 8 ½ months of free rent equaled $91,800. We have supported our bowling tenant for six years and with no formal materials from them to indicate a viable long-term plan, so beginning February 2, they will be reverting to the month-to-month terms the operated under before 2018.

Copyright 2020 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.