June 14-20, 2019 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
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Game, set & match for racquet club
Brokers serve up a $12.25 million megadeal for famed tennis center in Bayside
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Despite local efforts to
save the Bayside Tennis and
Racquets Club (NSTRC),
the historic athletic center
has reportedly been sold
for $12.25 million.
According to public
records, the Bayside
Tennis Corporation sold
the property at 34-28 214th
St. to 6118 Bayside LLC.
Patch reported that the
sale took place on May 13,
but the Office of the City
Register did not publicize
the information until
May 30.
Records show that the
business is located at 35-22
Linden Place in Flushing.
QNS could not find other
public information linked
to the LLC.
Multiple sources
confirmed rumors of the
tennis club sale back
in December 2018. The
sources shared that former
club president George
Pauliny was looking to sell
the property without the
knowledge of many vested
club members.
Pauliny allegedly
presented the plan to 11
official board members
in September but the club
president instructed them
to keep it a secret from the
37 vested members of the
over 100-year-old tennis
club.
The club president and
board members privy to the
plan compelled members to
vote on a contract they had
drafted, which resulted in
a vote of 39 to 9 in favor
of the sale.
Developers would then
reportedly raze the club
grounds and fully and
partially vested club
members would earn money
based on time served on
the board. Sources said
that each member had the
potential to earn $8400 per
year served.
A month after news
surfaced, the community
rallied together in the
hopes of saving the beloved
tennis club. Bayside
Historical Society (BHS)
organized a rally to try and
convince the tennis club
board to not go through
with the sale.
“An alternate plan that
would develop a portion of
the club, while keeping the
clubhouse and a number
of courts intact has been
presented to the club’s
Board of Directors, but
unfortunately was kept
from the entire voting
membership to consider,”
BHS President Paul
DiBenedetto told the crowd
at the January rally.
DiBenedetto and others
at the rally expressed
their displeasure with the
sale but said that if a sale
did occur, they hoped the
NSTRC would preserve
the historic clubhouse and
several tennis courts.
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by email at jbagcal@
qns.com or by phone at (718)
224-5863 ext. 214.
TIME TO ‘TWIST & SPROUT’ IN FLUSHING
Queens families joined staff from NewYork-Presbyterian Queens on June 9 for “Twist & Sprout!”,
a fun and educational afternoon at Queens Botanical Garden in Flushing. The event was inspired
by the pediatric residents from Weill Cornell Medicine during their training in community
pediatrics at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens. Photo courtesy of NewYork-Presbyterian Queens
Vol. 28 No. 24 60 total pages
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