The 24-lane alley opened in 1959 in a strip shopping center on New Hampshire Avenue. Sloan bought the business in 2018. Covid was tough — pandemic restrictions forced the center to close temporarily, then to reopen at limited capacity — but the business had rebounded, Sloan said.And then came Labor Day weekend last year, when the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida blew through the Washington area.Water flooded into the center, which is below ground level.
Soon, customers began complaining of a damp and musty smell that irritated their noses and lungs and infiltrated their clothes. Testing revealed black mold, Sloan said. Landlord B.F. Saul paid for its own testing, which it said did not find black mold.A plumber sent by the landlord found a pit hidden at the back of the center, covered by a lid.
“Immediately, B.F. Saul decided to make it their mission to blame me for everything that's happened,” Sloan said. Concerned about the health of his customers, Sloan closed the bowling alley in November. He doesn’t have flood coverage on his insurance policy. Sloan said B.F. Saul was helpful early in the pandemic, when business was tough. But now the large real estate company is unresponsive. “I’ve been trying to get building drawings from the landlord,” he said. “They refused to turn those over.”Sloan expects that lawyers will have to get involved. Saul has agreed to conduct a third mold test this week, he said. He said the cost of remediating the fungal infestation could be upward of $200,000. The lanes would have to be pulled up, then reinstalled.