In early August in a press release, Alexander & Baldwin announced that they will preserve bowling in Kailua. But what does that mean to them?

The current lease at Pali Lanes will expire on Jan. 3. Then starting in February Pali Lanes will be operated on a month-to-month lease. That means (speaking in hypothetical terms) Pali Lanes could be open in February and then told in March that they would have to shut down.

With this new lease, Team #SavePaliLanes and the two Pali Lanes owners will not be able to pursue our plan to completely renovate Pali Lanes.

Over the past year Team #SavePaliLanes has been working with the Hamakua Group to produce a completely new Pali Lanes. With the help of the Hamakua Group, Pali Lanes drew up plans for a new Pali Lanes. If we are able to renovate Pali Lanes, it will be the nicest and newest bowling alley in the state. It will have all the newest advances in the “bowling world.”

Our plans for renovations call for “modernizing and refinishing, continuing the earned local heritage, continue to be the proven community (gathering) activity center (of Kailua), add a second floor above the Hale Kealoha restaurant for office spaces and other uses, an outdoor performance stage, and Kailua Town’s requested Central Green Community Space.”

The two biggest changes would be 1) the parking lot and 2) the second story.

The parking lot at Pali Lanes in the new plan would not exist. The current parking would be transformed into a grassy area, that would also have a stage for various uses. This would allow the Pali Lanes parking lot to be a gathering center for all of Windward Oahu (specifically Kailua residents).

Christian Arakawa

There could be daily or weekly farmer’s markets, talk story events, hula events. Anything event that the public wants can be held at Pali Lanes. For people coming to bowl at Pali Lanes, they can park in the parking lot and the parking structure right next to the bowling alley.

The second story would go right on top of the current restaurant (Hale Kealoha’s). The upstairs would have space for eight offices and one room for the community to use.

The purpose of the second floor would be for “governmental, civic and local consumer services such as a Satellite City Hall, Jobs Training Center, convenient office/meeting space(s) for community service groups such as Neighborhood Boards, Hui Kawainui-Kailua Ka Wai Ola, Kailua Urban Design Task Force, ‘Ahahui Mālama i ka Lōhaki, Lani-Kailua Outdoor Circle, garden club, kids groups, etc.”

Christian Arakawa

The upstairs would benefit local businesses, not mainland companies. To see more pictures and a virtual flythrough of our plans please visit our website.

While all of this would be a huge benefit to Kailua, A&B seems to have other ideas. In their press release, they are looking at “other potential bowling operators” to possibly come in and run Pali Lanes. Windward Oahu, Kailua, and Oahu needs Pali Lanes to stay open and be run locally.

We need A&B to preserve Pali Lanes. A poll done by Rep. Cynthia Thielen found that over 70% of Kailua residents want to save Pali Lanes.

To A&B, I challenge you to hold a public forum to explain to the community your current position on Pali Lanes. I challenge you to hold a public forum to listen to the hundreds of people who love Pali Lanes and want it to stay.