Neighborhood groups briefed on project at Frederick bowling alley site
Aug. 12—Historical considerations could impact the future of a Frederick development that would add 300 housing units on the site of a bowling alley and shopping center in the city.
The city's Historic Preservation Commission will consider later this month whether to recommend that a historic preservation overlay be applied to the Terrace Lanes property at 10-12 W. College Terrace, a nearby office building and the Patrick Street Center shopping center at 467 W. Patrick Street.
If approved, the project would add 300 units in three buildings on the site and the bowling alley would be removed.
Lisa Mroszczyk Murphy, a historic preservation planner for the city, briefed members of Neighborhood Advisory Councils 6 and 9 on the overlay process Wednesday night.
The project meets two criteria, for both its architecture and as an example of post-World War II suburbanization, she said.
The bowling alley was built as a tenpin bowling center in 1960, while the office building was added in 1969, according to an HPC staff report.
William Randall, president of Randall CAP, which owns the shopping center, wrote to Murphy and city officials in July saying that the property's owners strongly oppose applying the overlay to the College Terrace property.
"Basically, while the sign is kind of cool, our feeling is that it is a cinder block with brick veneer 'big box' building, and there should not be a Historic Preservation Overlay," Randall wrote. The HPC will make a decision after an Aug. 17 hearing, which would then move the project to the Planning Commission.
Ultimately, the mayor and aldermen will decide whether to apply the overlay, Mroszczyk Murphy said.
Mid-century architecture, such as the bowling alley with its accordion-style roof canopy and stylized diamond letters, is growing in significance, she said.
Follow Ryan Marshall on Twitter:
@RMarshallFNP
