Hopes for bowling alley's return hinge on storm lawsuit

By Sarah Prohaska
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 12, 2007

FORT PIERCE — In the half-century since Fort Pierce Bowl first opened in northern St. Lucie County, some of its loyal customers say they found more inside the bowling alley's doors than simply a place to play their favorite sport.

For local mom Stacy Malinowski, it's where her shy son found confidence and blossomed among other young bowlers.
For St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Craft, it was not only the backdrop for many childhood memories; it was where he worked while in high school, where he met lifelong friends - and, most important, where he met his wife.

It was where Treasure Coast retirees such as Walter Long and Donald Tubo say they found camaraderie and a home away from home.
"It was like you had a whole other family there," Long said.

Now, as they look at the empty lot along U.S. 1 where the old building stood for decades, the loyal patrons say they don't want their memories of the bowling center to end there. Nearly a year after owner Kenneth Matthews was forced to raze the hurricane-damaged building, many former customers say they want to hear the tumble of pins and the rumble of balls rolling down the lanes again in a new building on the land.
But the future of the 3.5 acres and the possibility of a new Fort Pierce Bowl remains uncertain as Matthews and the demolished bowling center's insurance carrier remain locked in a legal dispute over coverage for the 2004 hurricane damage. The case file has grown to more than seven volumes at the St. Lucie County Courthouse. Matthews said his ultimate goal is to rebuild, but he won't know if that will be possible until the lawsuit is resolved.

In the meantime, Matthews, 51, said he's taken out private loans and a second mortgage on his home and is using his savings to keep up with mortgage and insurance payments on the land. The lawsuit is tentatively set on a July trial docket, and Matthews said that's a crucial date for him.
"I don't think I can survive another continuance," he said. "I have loans and financing coming due. July is the last drop-dead date for me. After that, I might have to liquidate the property to pay off the mortgage."

That is not the outcome many of his longtime patrons want to see.

"I want them to open up this bowling center," said Nancy Messina, who bowled there in a league for 12 years and loved to spend New Year's Eve at its annual bash. "There are so many of us who just really miss it."

'We were trying to bail'

In its heyday, Fort Pierce Bowl hosted 14 televised national tournaments. Matthews has photographs of ESPN commentators broadcasting in front of his lanes. His scrapbooks include a thank-you letter from customers who used the center as a shelter during Hurricane David in 1979, when they ate hot dogs and hamburgers as the storm passed. During the next big storm, however, the experience was very different.

When Hurricane Frances was bearing down on the Treasure Coast on Sept. 5, 2004, Matthews once again stayed at the center, with about 12 people. But this slow-moving storm caused the roof to begin to tear off, ceiling tiles to fall and water to flood the lanes and carpeting, he said.
"We had a 12-foot or 8-foot table set up, and we were playing cards," Matthews said during a deposition. "And it sounded like a plane crashed in the front parking lot. ... Inside, we were trying to bail as quick as we could in the back end because the water was just coming down like a sheet against the back wall, and it was going everywhere."

Then on Sept. 25, 2004, Hurricane Jeanne swept through Fort Pierce, pounding the building again. The fact that two storms hit the bowling center within weeks of each other is at the heart of the dispute that led to Fort Pierce Bowl's lawsuit against North Pointe Insurance Co. The bowling center contends that each storm caused different damage and losses. Because they were two separate events, separate policy limits should be available to cover non-duplicative damage from each storm, said attorney Kelly Kubiak of the Merlin Law Group, a Tampa firm representing Fort Pierce Bowl.

For example, the policy covers up to $1.2 million in damage for the building. Kubiak said she's arguing that up to $1.2 million should be available to cover damage from Frances and another $1.2 million should be available to cover damage from Jeanne. Attorneys for the insurance company, however, disagree and filed court papers arguing it already has properly and fully paid Fort Pierce Bowl for the hurricane damage.

In documents filed in April, its attorney asked that any claim for more than one policy limit be rejected. "In many respects, the particular losses or damages sustained by FPB (Fort Pierce Bowl) were indistinguishable between the two storms or FPB had already sustained a total loss from Frances when Jeanne hit," wrote Boca Raton attorney Steven Schwartz, who is representing North Pointe.

Schwartz did not return phone calls for comment about the lawsuit, but in recent court filings he wrote that North Pointe already paid Fort Pierce Bowl more than $2 million under the various policy coverages, including $1.2 million for the building. Kubiak said she's eager to take the case to a jury, and she will argue that it is possible to distinguish damage from each storm. She said Fort Pierce Bowl will seek about $1.5 million, for damage from Hurricane Jeanne to the building and other items such as loss of income due to the interruption in business.

Owner dreams of returning

While he waits for his day in court, Matthews, who has been in the bowling business his entire adult life, took a job managing a bowling center in Texas that was damaged by Hurricane Rita in 2005. But he still considers home to be Fort Pierce, where he bought the bowling center on his 23rd birthday in 1979.

"I feel like a fish out of water in Texas," he said. "My major goal is to rebuild and move back to Fort Pierce. I lived there 31 years."
Colleen Greer, who worked as Fort Pierce Bowl's bookkeeper for 29 years, said she and many of its longtime patrons are anxious about what the future holds. Greer said she hasn't bowled since the Monday night before Frances hit.

"We'd like to know what's going to happen one way or the other," she said. "We had a lot of good times. I miss it tremendously."
Craft, who has been a county commissioner since 2004, said he is among the many who hope Matthews will be able to rebuild.
"I started bowling there when I was 14. I met all my friends there," he said. "There's always a bit of nostalgia once a facility like that is gone. It was a great community gathering spot." Fort Pierce resident Tubo, who bowled there since 1988, echoed those thoughts.
"Losing that center was like losing your house," he said. "It was a family place. Everyone there seemed to take care of each other."

Temporary address is:
Fort Pierce Bowl
5008 Deanna Ln.
Fort Pierce, FL 34946
(772)465-2216 (Colleen or Ken)
email - fpb2500@aol.com