Broadway pool hall can't catch a break, owner hopes to sell soon

By Tommy Hallissey

The fact that Fieldston Billiards closed down might have gone unnoticed if not for the large "for sale" sign that now hangs just below the bricked-faced building's roof.

Its non-descript windowless Broadway storefront, lined with pull-down metal gates, made it look more like a warehouse and less like a business. The daytime appearance often left passersby to wonder: "Is that place open?"

After 17 years, the answer now is no. Fieldston Billiards is closed and up for sale.

Karl Brumback, director of sales in Riverdale for the real estate company, Massey Knakal, said the business was a belated casualty of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's indoor smoking ban, which took effect in 2003.

Mr. Brumback said his client, pool hall owner Gregory Brust, joked, "Running a pool hall where people can't smoke is a tough business."

Fieldston Billiards, formerly a bowling alley, traded in its long lanes for green felt in 1990. "Billiards was really taking off so we just thought it was time," Mr. Brust told The Riverdale Press in a frontpage article in 2006.

With business slipping and fewer customers polishing their cues, Mr. Brust tried to cater to a younger crowd, adding an air hockey table, two baseball nets, a modern style jukebox and six screens for the Xbox game Halo. But it wasn't enough to keep going.

Fieldston Billiards may be more a victim of the bearish economic climate rather than a nearly five-year-old smoking ban. In the United States and abroad fears are mounting of a looming recession on the heels of a bursting housing bubble.

"The owner has decided to put it on the market and test the market, which has turned bad," said Mr. Brumback.

Mr. Brumback said the property, just a stone's throw away from the new Manhattan College project and with easy access to the No. 1 subway line, has already received multiple bids. He said the interested business have varied and include a big box store and a medical supply store, among others. He wouldn't be specific.

Meanwhile, workers hired by the college have already excavated a hole for the school's parking garage. The community is also anticipating the arrival of a new chain store on the college property, although the school has not announced which business it will be leasing the space to.

Despite Fieldston Billiards' proximity to the school, Mr. Brumback said Manhattan College has not approached him with an offer.

He said he expects Fieldston Billiards to be sold within several months.

READERS COMMENT:

Posted Feb. 1, 2008 — As a Lehman College alumni, I FONDLY REMEMBER THE DAYS IT WAS A BOWLING
ALLEY, MY FAVORITE ONE!  Had anyone even thought of converting it back
to this use? Why not? BOWLING ALLEYS ARE SCARCE NOW. I have to travel to
the East Bronx or Manhattan South to go bowling now. I live in Inwood
now and would find an alley located here or in Riverdale, especially the
Fieldston location to be conviently accessible-'right up my alley' as it
were. I would llke to know if there are other current or would-be
bowlers who feel the same way and could enourage someone to take the
risk of bringing back this great family-friendly game to Riverdale or
Inwood.'THANKS FOR LETTING ME GET THIS 'OFF MY CHEST'.' .