A State College area property that’s home to a bowling alley, motel and restaurant is for sale, but its current owners have no intention of seeing the businesses close.
Northland Bowl & Recreational Center, 1521 Martin Street in Ferguson Township, was recently listed by Bennett Williams Commercial.
The 37,500-square-foot building on 3.25 acres features the 32-lane bowling alley, 16-room Northland Motel and the Arena Bar and Grill, with the accompanying hotel liquor license utilized by the bar included. A long-term cell tower lease also provides passive income, commercial Realtor Kandy Weader wrote in a Facebook post.
Fred Sahakian, a co-owner of the property since it was rebuilt in 1994, said that one member of the ownership group is “way past retirement age, and we’re exploring the possibility of selling it.”
“It’s been 32 years, so we’ve had a long time,” he said.
The owners have updated the businesses over the decades, including renovations to all of the Northland Motel’s rooms about a year ago and upgrades to the bowling alley’s equipment.
“So we’re not planning on letting anything close, letting anything happen to it,” Sahakian said. “We wouldn’t have spent millions of dollars updating all the bowling equipment to let it close.”
The businesses continue to thrive, Sahakian said, with more than 5,000 visitors a week to one of only two bowling alleys in Centre County, along with the popular bar and grill that was once the Last Cowboy and the high-occupancy motel.
Northland Bowl, with bowling, billiards and an arcade, has become “a place for celebration, whether you are 90-years-old or a young child,” Sahakian said. He noted that it hosts a wide variety of events, such as birthday and graduation parties and team-building events, and last year hosted its most corporate events ever.
Bowling alley spaces and the Arena can be reserved for private functions
“It’s a big part of this community,” Sahakian said. “It’s a place where the community comes together and celebrates and has a lot of fun.”
Potential buyers can find contact Information and detaila about the property that Weader described as “an iconic Happy Valley destination” through the Bennett Williams website.
No asking price is listed.
Northland Bowl and the Arena Bar and Grill are open 5 p.m. to midnight on Monday and 11 a.m. to midnight Tuesday through Sunday.
