Beloved 60-Year Bowling Alley to Close, Replaced by 47 Condominiums

Justin Oertel was born in 1993, the year before his father Mike bought the Danville Bowl. By the time he became vice president of operations at the 24-lane alley on Boone Court, he had spent virtually his entire life in the building: birthday parties through age 13, Saturday junior leagues with more than 40 kids, impromptu baseball and football games in the parking lot after league nights wrapped. When the doors closed for the last time on March 31, 2025, it ended more than six decades of community life at one of the East Bay's last traditional bowling alleys.

The San Ramon-based developer The Address Company plans to replace the 1.62-acre site with a 47-unit townhome project called "The Lanes," a name that nods to the history it will erase. Danville's Planning Commission approved the project on November 25, 2025. Demolition of the shuttered alley was scheduled to begin before year's end, with construction on the new homes set to start in early 2026.

What's being lost goes well beyond the lanes themselves. Danville Bowl, open since 1961 and once owned by legendary pro bowler Earl Anthony, housed a full sports bar and grill, adult leagues spanning social, beginner, scratch, ladies, and mixed divisions, and the junior Saturday program Oertel described as the backbone of his childhood. It was among the few commercial spaces in the Tri-Valley where a retiree could bowl next to a ten-year-old, making it one of the increasingly rare all-ages "third places" that urban planners and community advocates say cities are losing at an accelerating rate.

"We had plans to renovate and try to bring the bowl into the future, but countless obstacles and lack of funding after Covid kind of brought it to this point," Oertel said. "We wished it would've stayed a bowl but sadly things didn't line up."

The project that will replace it offers limited public benefit in exchange for the community anchor it displaces. Of the 49 total units, including two junior accessory dwelling units, the developer committed to just four income-restricted homes: two very low-income JADUs and two low-income townhouse units. The remaining 45 units will be sold at market rate, with no replacement recreational space planned for the site.

The development will also require a height waiver. The three-story buildings will rise to roughly 40 feet, exceeding Danville's standard 35-foot limit. To reach the 47-unit count, The Address Company invoked California's State Density Bonus Law, a state tool designed to incentivize affordable housing production. Critics of such projects argue the law is being used to maximize unit counts while delivering minimal affordability in return. The site was rezoned for multi-family residential in Danville's 2023 Housing Element, designating it a housing opportunity site before the bowling alley had even closed.

The project will provide 104 parking spaces, 92 tucked into garages beneath the homes and 12 on-street, for a development that sits wedged between Interstate 680 and San Ramon Valley Boulevard.

Regular bowler Alyssa Gaskin captured what many longtime patrons felt when the closure was announced. "This is so close to where we all hang out and so close to downtown," she said. "Everybody congregates here, and it's such a big community of people."

For Oertel, the loss is both professional and deeply personal. "I'm going to miss the relationships built," he said. The Lanes will offer new residents 104 parking spaces and three-story views of the freeway. What it will not offer is another Danville Bowl.