Iconic Melody
Lanes bowling alley
sees little hope
Despite reopening, the owner of Melody Lanes in Sunset Park says
the alley faces an uncertain future. NYC guide
COURIER LIFE, AUGUST 21-27, 2020 3
BY BEN VERDE
While bowling alleys in
New York State got the offi -
cial go-ahead to reopen their
doors on Aug.14, the owner
of Sunset Park’s iconic Melody
Lanes sees no end to
the hard times, saying his
business is “limping along”
amid the pandemic.
“You really can’t consider
us open,” Gary Beshara
told Brooklyn Paper
on Monday, the fi rst day he
was allowed to open.
Right before the pandemic
hit the city, Melody
Lanes had completed a $1.5
million renovation of the
business’ interior, which is
now getting very little use
even as customers are welcomed
back — largely due
to stringent requirements
that have shuttered every
other lane, banned food
and drink sales, and forced
management to hang plastic
sheets separating each
group of bowlers.
With all those restrictions,
along with customers’
fears of enclosed spaces,
Beshara says it’s not even
fi nancially worthwhile to
reopen — but he’s doing it
to help his 30-person staff,
some of whom have worked
at the lane for decades.
“I got a tremendous staff
that’s been with me many
years,” Beshara said. “I’m
trying to be good to my staff,
I’m trying to provide a service
to my neighborhood.”
Still, the fi nancial toll
is weighing heavily on the
35-year staple of Brooklyn
business.
During the state-mandated
closure, Beshara had
racked up $110,000 in real
estate taxes for the building
at 37th Street and Fifth
Avenue, while coughing up
another $11,000 in electric
bills — all while generating
no revenue.
Insurance costs have
also hit the renowned alley
hard, as Melody Lanes
— like many other Empire
State businesses — has received
no help from their
insurance company during
the closure due to a clause
in their policy that exempts
coverage for business interruptions
stemming from a
virus, Beshara said.
“There’s no business interruption,”
he told Brooklyn
Paper. “That’s another
farce.”
A bill sponsored by a
pair of Brooklyn state legislators
in June would require
insurance companies
to cover the cost of operating
losses during the pandemic
— although the measure
has yet to gain traction
in the legislature.
The one saving grace,
Beshara said, was that he’d
already paid off the value of
the building — which has
given a small sliver of life to
the famed 26-lane joint.
“I’m very fortunate that
I don’t have a mortgage,” he
said. “If I did have a mortgage
I’d be bankrupt.”
Melody Lanes 461 37th
St. at Fifth Avenue in Sunset
Park, (718) 832-2695, www.
melodylanesny.com. Open
Sun–Thurs 10 am to 10 pm;
Fri–Sat 10 am to midnight.
Reservations required.
SOME HEROES’
for help amid grim future
“These are the comic book
stores, the bodegas, the small
grocery stores, the small coffee
shops ... all of the businesses
that make our neighborhoods
as vibrant as they
are,” Gounardes said. “Seventy
four percent of them have
said the number one obstacle
they face today in order to survive
in this climate is rent relief.”
The head of Brooklyn’s largest
business booster stressed
that, without rent relief and
other forms of help, the borough
would lose the backbone
of its economy — as small
businesses employ nearly half
of all Brooklyn workers.
“This is why it matters,
these are the folks that sustain
our communities, these
are the businesses that serve
our communities,” said Randy
Peers, the President of the
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.
Assemblyman Peter Abbate
— who represents parts
of Sunset Park, Borough Park,
and Dyker Heights — implored
landlords to be lenient
with businesses that have lost
revenue.
“It is my hope that landlords
of commercial establishments
and small businesses
work together during these
challenging times,” Abbate
said. “Many shopkeepers and
landlords in our community
are neighbors and they are
both struggling with an array
of fi nancial hardships.”
Bay Ridge Councilman
Justin Brannan spoke of the
need for federal aid to support
the city’s small business economy,
claiming the city and
state lack proper funding to
repair the damage brought on
by the coronavirus.
“At the city and state level,
we don’t have buckets to hand
out to businesses,” Brannan
said. “We need help from the
federal government.”
At the local level, Gounardes
is hoping for the passage
of a bill that he and Park
Slope Assemblyman Robert
Carroll introduced in April
that would force insurance
companies to pay out business
interruption claims for revenue
lost during the pandemic.
As businesses look for reprieve
from losses of revenue
related to COVID-19, insurance
companies have turned
a blind eye, citing virus exclusions
written into their policies.
“This is an interruption
on business on a very largescale,”
said Gounardes, who
introduced the bill in the senate.
“What good is carrying insurance
if the insurance won’t
pay a claim?”
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