CCB MEDIA PHOTOS
Pufferbellies night club is located off Route 28 in Hyannis.
HYANNIS – Hy-Line Cruises has purchased the 2.36-acre Pufferbellies property in Hyannis to use as parking for its ferry customers.
Hy-Line Vice President of Marketing Philip Scudder said in purchasing the property, Hy-Line was looking into the future.
“We were looking ahead for parking and we were looking for off-site properties and the Pufferbellies lot and parcel was very proximate to the harbor district and to the transportation center. . . . It would be for customers, mostly for the ferry business.”
Scudder said the nightclub has two years on their lease, so it would operate at least this summer as a nightclub with an option to operate as a nightclub for next summer as well.
Hy-Line is looking at the Pufferbellies parking lot as a way to provide additional parking for its ferry customers in the future, as the town of Barnstable is looking to have fewer parking lots on Ocean Street, Scudder said.
“The town is assessing the parking permits and the number of spaces on Ocean Street and South Street in the next year or two and there will be a loss of parking here,” he said.
He said he believes they could get a license for about 150 to 200 spaces on the lot.
The historic railroad roundhouse building that is used for Pufferbellies night club was built around 1900.
Hy-Line does not yet have any future plans for the historic railroad roundhouse building that now houses the nightclub, Scudder said.
He said they could lease out the building if it is not in conflict with the parking use.
“We haven’t identified any internal use,” he said.
Hy-Line has a new high speed vessel to Nantucket that they are constructing now, but Scudder said they are not planning additional trips with that vessel.
Hy-Line closed on the $1.9 million purchase for Pufferbellies at the end of May, Scudder said.
