Beloved Cambridge bowling alley Lanes and Games will be open for approximately one more year before closing for good, according to the developer who plans to build a high-end apartment building in its place.

Criterion Development Partners is looking to build 325 apartments in place of the bowling alley and an adjoining motel.

Lanes and Games and its neighboring motel, the Gateway Inn, have been owned by Tony Martignetti and his family for over 40 years, Criterion consultant Rich McKinnon said at a North Cambridge Stabilization Committee (NCSC) meeting Wednesday night.

“The Gateway Inn is open 24/7, and the bowling alley is open seven days a week. The [Martignetti] family made a decision; they’re tired. They want to retire, they don’t want to run it anymore, and the next generation doesn’t want to run it anymore,” McKinnon, a Cambridge resident, said.

According to McKinnon, the Martignetti family offered the buildings out to a number of developers about three years ago.

Many bowling leagues will be displaced when Lanes and Games closes, McKinnon said, and owners are working carefully to relocate them. Lanes and Games will remain open until the leagues finish play next summer, McKinnon said.

Cambridge resident Jared MacDonald, told the committee he brings his four-year-old son to Lanes and Games every weekend. MacDonald called the closure “tragic.”

“I’m sad to see another luxury condo development spring up. What is being lost there is the de facto community center that the bowling alley served. It’s one of the last few places in Cambridge where you see people of all different types, colors and income levels and abilities get together. I think it would be smart if we could develop places like that going forward,” he said.

Criterion Executive Vice President Jack Englert, said the company would be willing to consider the idea.

“The Martignettis have made a decision and we have try to work within that decision. Perhaps there is a way to create some community space that can offset or replace Lanes and Games, maybe not to the same extent, but maybe there is a way,” he said.

The proposal

The project's 325 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and 242 parking spaces would be spread across multiple buildings. At least 36 units will be "affordable," the proposal submitted to the NCSC said. The remainder of the units will be rented for about $3.50 per square foot per month, McKinnon said.

Cambridge resident Lisa Wexler noted the housing crisis in Cambridge.

“It’s really obscene to see so many high-income buildings go up in this area. What kind of collective consciousness do we have here? Are we talking about the common good, or the good of five percent of people who live internationally and in this country,” she said.

Englert said his company could not afford to build a project where 75 percent of the units were offered at below-market rents.

“I understand affordable housing, I do. I’m aware of it; I’m trying to do it. There are constraints,” he said.

Environmental concerns

With climate change a rising concern for the Boston area, NCSC member Michael Brandon called building on the Alewife Brook floodplain “foolish.”

“Yes, it’s smart to build near transportation centers, but not when they’re in a floodplain right next to a reservation. We’ll be surrounding a natural resource area with buildings,” he said.

A letter from Cambridge City Engineer Katherine Watkins to the Cambridge Conservation Commission said the project has been designed to survive so-called 100-year storms and floods forecasted in the recent Cambridge Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment for 2030 and 2070.

The design, McKinnon said, incorporates porous pavement in many places that can move stormwater into the ground quickly. The design also includes storage tanks to hold some flood waters for up to eight hours. Some parts of the building vulnerable during a flood will be elevated higher than the predicted water level.

According to CCC administrator Jennifer Letourneau, as long as the compensatory flood storage is created, Criterion’s project will meet the criteria for a permit under the Wetlands Protection Act.

Next steps

The CCC will hold a public hearing Aug. 25 to discuss Criterion’s application. Later this fall, Criterion will also seek special permits from the Cambridge Planning Board. A series of hearings and community meetings will be held in the future on building design, traffic and parking, for residents to ask preliminary questions, according to McKinnon.

A traffic study will also be conducted in the area to estimate the project's impact on congestion.

To contact Chronicle reporter Natalie Handy, email nhandy@wickedlocal.com or follow her on Twitter @nataliehandy.