Despite local efforts to save the Bayside Tennis and Racquets Club (NSTRC), the historic athletic center has reportedly been sold for $12.25 million.
According to public records, the Bayside Tennis Corporation sold the property at 34-28 214th St. to 6118 Bayside LLC. Patch reported that the sale took place on May 13, but the Office of the City Register did not publicize the information until May 30.
Records show that the business is located at 35-22 Linden Place in Flushing. QNS could not find other public information linked to the LLC.
Multiple sources confirmed rumors of the tennis club sale back in December 2018. The sources shared that former club president George Pauliny was looking to sell the property without the knowledge of many vested club members.
Pauliny allegedly presented the plan to 11 official board members in September but the club president instructed them to keep it a secret from the 37 vested members of the over 100-year-old tennis club.
The club president and board members privy to the plan compelled members to vote on a contract they had drafted, which resulted in a vote of 39 to 9 in favor of the sale.
Developers would then reportedly raze the club grounds and fully and partially vested club members would earn money based on time served on the board. Sources said that each member had the potential to earn $8400 per year served.
A month after news surfaced, the community rallied together in the hopes of saving the beloved tennis club. Bayside Historical Society (BHS) organized a rally to try and convince the tennis club board to not go through with the sale.
“An alternate plan that would develop a portion of the club, while keeping the clubhouse and a number of courts intact has been presented to the club’s Board of Directors, but unfortunately was kept from the entire voting membership to consider,” BHS President Paul DiBenedetto told the crowd at the January rally.
DiBenedetto and others at the rally expressed their displeasure with the sale but said that if a sale did occur, they hoped the NSTRC would preserve the historic clubhouse and several tennis courts.
