As if I needed another reason to love Milwaukee.
Don't call it a bowling alley
Bowling Congress expansion to house elite training center
By DANI McCLAIN
dmcclain@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 20, 2007
Greendale - Dick Fischer spent 30 years bowling with different teams around the city - two nights a week with the men from Wisconsin Bridge and Iron Co; once a week with the St. Bernard Parish league.
So Fischer, who sits on Greendale's Plan Commission, was optimistic when a national association for bowling enthusiasts presented its proposal to build a state-of-the-art center where pros and near-pros can perfect their games.
"This place is supposed to bring the world back to bowling," Fischer said.
The U.S. Bowling Congress, or USBC, headquartered in Greendale, has more than 3 million members nationwide. Last week, the village approved the group's proposal to build an 8,000-square-foot training center for high-level competitors and would-be coaches from around the world.
The new center will be built adjacent to the existing building at 5301 S. 76th St.
The USBC employs about 200 and already is home to a bowling equipment research center, which opened in 1977.
Absent from the recent USBC proposal: plans for a liquor license. There will be no restaurant. No bar. No chance to bowl a beer frame.
"It's not a bowling alley," said Neil Stremmel, the organization's technical director. "It's not to bring the local people in for open bowl. It's not for league bowling."
Stremmel said he expects teams from around the world to come to Greendale for a week or so to use the center.
Milwaukee is already an internationally recognized site from a bowler's perspective.
The Masters Tournament will be held at the AMF Bowlero Lanes in Wauwatosa and at Miller Park from Oct. 23-28.
"We have those connections. We know those people," Stremmel said of the sport's bigwigs. "We know what they need, and we're going to bring them here."
The organization is applying for patents that would make the bowling center the most technologically advanced one in the world, Stremmel said..
"We'll be able to measure certain things that haven't been measured before, and increase knowledge from a bowler and a coaching perspective," he said.
The organization plans to break ground in mid-October and open the center's doors in April.
The initial investment will be around $1 million. But within three years, the facility should turn about $250,000 in profits per year, Stremmel said.
Dave Marks, owner of Dave's World Bowling Pro Shop in West Allis, said the new facility could be a boon to the Midwest.
"I think it's going to bring people to Milwaukee," Marks said. "You're talking people who are averaging 200-plus. Your average bowler may never see that facility."
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Originally Posted by Little Whiskey
