Pete’s Downtown restaurant at 2 Water Street (next to Ignazio’s Pizza and across The River Cafe) has closed, according to a worker who has emailed us. Brooklyn Eagle first reported that the restaurant is not only closed, but it has cleared its space, after being open since the 1980s. It’s too bad for a restaurant that has been a fixture in the neighborhood for a long time. Pete’s served Italian food with popular dishes like penne vodka, baked ravioli, veal parmigiana, and shrimp scampi, according to online review websites.

Calls were not returned, and there are no updates on its Twitter (@petesdowntown) or Facebook pages, and their website, petesdowntown.com is offline.

According to a Fulton Ferry resident, Pete Thristino the owner has told patrons that the lease was not renewed, and the landlord is seeking a high end restaurant to take over the space. The location is a prime space, given the view of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline, and would attract a higher lease. A restaurant there would make a lot of ‘friends’ from residents in the area if the food quality is high, but is also a destination location for outer borough visitors.

The Brooklyn Eagle writes: “Pete’s was one of the first businesses to move into the area after it began to be redeveloped. The first signs of this redevelopment came in 1977, when BargeMusic and the River Café opened. Pete Thristino, owner of the restaurant, told this reporter in a 2008 interview that even in the early 1980s, “This was known as an area that when it snowed, there were no footprints…The building, on the corner of Water Street, was known as the Franklin House Hotel in the mid-1800s. It was an important hotel and restaurant in the days before the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, when the ferry area was the gateway to Manhattan and visiting merchants, clerks, seamen and farmers needed someplace to stay.”

Pete’s Downtown (Closed as of Dec 29, 2011)
2 Water Street (at Old Fulton Street), Brooklyn, NY 11201

[UPDATE Sat Dec 17: Grimaldi's has opened at 1 Front Street.]

We saw yesterday that Grimaldi’s Pizza is now closed. But there seems to be a lot of activity on 1 Front Street (now that the stop work order has been resolved) to prepare for the opening of the new Grimaldi’s location. Meanwhile, a Juliana’s Pizza sign is in the window of 19 Old Fulton Street. A placeholder for Juliana’s website is live at julianaspizza.com.

(Thanks to reader Kathleen for the photo.)

[UPDATE Sat Dec 17: Grimaldi's has opened at 1 Front Street.]

The Grimaldi’s location at 19 Old Fulton Street closed yesterday. The new location will be opening next door (1 Front Street), but there’s no opening date at this time. The move to 1 Front Street was originally scheduled for November 29, but was delayed due to a stop work order for an illegal coal oven install. @FultonFerry posted the above photo on Twitter with the caption “Priceless: The look on tourists’ faces when they see what remains of Grimaldi’s”.

Meanwhile, we have not heard back from Patsy Grimaldi, the original owner of Grimaldi’s before he sold the restaurant, and owner of Juliana’s Pizza, the incoming pizza place taking over the coal oven location on a new open date for his new restaurant. Before the delayed Grimaldi closing, the original open date was scheduled for March 2012.

Related:
{Grimaldi Pizza Move Delayed, 29Nov2011}
{Patsy Grimaldi’s Coming out of Retirement to Take Over Original Pizza Location}

Grimaldi’s move to 1 Front Street is delayed due to an untimely death in the family and the Department of Buildings has issued a stop-work order at the 1 Front Street location. According to the BOD website, the stop work order issued on 11/28/2011 is for “illegally installed coal burning oven @ 1st floor done w/o propper approvals & presents a potential danger to patrons”.

Russell Ciolli, son of Frank Ciolli, both owners of Grimaldi’s Pizza, died last Wednesday at 39. Our condolences go out to the Ciolli family.

Related:
{Patsy Grimaldi’s Coming out of Retirement to Take Over Original Pizza Location}
{Grimaldi’s Move POSTPONED Due To Death In The Family, Gothamist}
{Grimaldi’s Coal-Oven Troubles At New Location, HuffPo}
{Tragic News for Grimaldi’s, Grub Street}
{City blocks new Grimaldi’s from opening over illegal oven, Brooklyn Daily}

Less than a week after news broke about Grimaldi’s moving next door to 1 Front Street, the NY Post published an article that Patsy Grimaldi will come out of retirement to open, or rather re-open, a pizza restaurant next to the newly moved Grimaldi’s Pizza. Patsy Grimaldi, the founder of Grimaldi’s sold his restaurant to current owner, Frank Ciolli in 1998. This is not the first time Patsy has come out of retirement. In 2006, he temporarily opened a pizza location at Aviator Sports & Recreation complex at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. The 80 year old Patsy told the NY Times in 2006 that “I’ve been retired — it was a big mistake.” In today’s NY Post article, Patsy tells them “A year after I sold Grimaldi’s, I was very sorry,” Grimaldi told The Post. “So when Mr. Waxman called me and asked if I wanted to come back, I thought I was dreaming. I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.” Mark (and Dorothy) Waxman, the landlord at 19 Old Fulton Street decided not to renew Ciolli’s lease. Last year, Ciolli and the Waxmans had a falling out over back taxes and lost his right to renew his lease.

The new Patsy Grimaldi restaurant will be called Juliana’s, after his late mother and plans to open in March 2012. Patsy plans to be at the restaurant daily. More importantly, Patsy will take over the coal-fired brick oven, which is said to give pizza a unique smokey flavor and a crisp crust that is just not possible with gas, convection, or wood ovens. Ciolli on Monday told the Post “he welcomed “competition” and would apply for city permission to acquire another coal-fired brick oven”. However, “environmental regulations also make it hard to build new coal ovens. Nowadays in New York City, coal ovens can only be rebuilt or replaced under an environmental grandfather clause — not installed from scratch. Pizza makers have become architectural historians, seeking out spaces that once housed a coal-burning oven, like old bakeries or restaurants.” (ref. NY Times, 10 June 1998) A list of coal oven pizzerias on the Slice list include Grimaldi’s and Totonno’s in Brooklyn.

While the Grimaldi’s and Juliana’s pizzerias will be neighbors in Fulton Ferry Landing, both Frank Ciolli and Patsy Grimaldi seem to welcome a friendly competition. Patsy says “There’s enough business in that area for three Grimaldi’s to do well,” and Frank tells the Post that “he welcomed competition”. With Wild Rise Pizza (68 Jay Street), Ignazio’s (4 Water Street), and Front Street Pizza (80 Front Street) in Dumbo, the pizza game will be on!

Patsy Grimaldi (left) and Frank Ciolli (right) (Photo by Brigitte Stelzer, The Brooklyn Paper)

A commercial building with 3 loft units at 46 Old Fulton Street just came on the market on Friday. Brownstoner featured one of the 5,000 sqft lofts for rent last month for $12,000 per month, still listed by Awaye Realty. This 1925 built building is 41 x 98.58 sqft with 8 full baths and 16,000 sqft was sold for $2,900,000 in August 2010, according to Everyblock.

There are two commercial spaces on the ground level and 3 floor through lofts, one per floor. The Fillmore listing says that the “side wall has a billboard which can be rented for $15,000 per month.” For 20% down ($1.4MM) and loan amount of $5.6MM, that’s roughly $30k per month of mortgage (at 5%). If half that can be paid for by the billboard, leasing 3 lofts for $5k covers the mortgage.

Is there a hitch? Unless there isn’t an updated Certificate of Occupancy on the NYC.gov website, the listed C of O of the building states that it cannot be used by more than 2 families. Are we reading this wrong? Either way, it’s an attractive building (for investment potential) across the street from what will be Grimaldi’s new home at 1 Front Street, next to the Eagle Warehouse coop building, but with plenty of traffic passing it.

[Update: A reader pointed out, "If you look closer at the C of O pdf, you will see that there are actually 2 distinct properties included in the 4 pages. The latter half, with the 2 families notation, is not for this building."]

(Photos from Awaye Realty)

{NYC.gov BIS: 46 Old Fulton St}
{Propertyshark.com listing for 46 Old Fulton St}

[UPDATE: Patsy Grimaldi to take over the original Grimaldi Pizza location, to open in March 2012.]

According to a story by The Brooklyn Paper, Grimaldi’s pizza will be moving next door to 1 Front Street next week. 1 Front Street was built in 1869 as Brooklyn’s first safety deposit bank. The cast iron building currently houses a restaurant/bar on the ground level and a dance floor on the second level.

As The Brooklyn Paper noted, last year, the landlord of Grimaldi’s tried to evict them for falling behind on rent and city taxes. “Instead, a judge ordered her to accept late payments and keep Grimaldi’s open. Waxman’s son Mark, who handles the property, vowed to boot the beloved joint as soon as its lease expired on Nov. 30.”

Grimaldi’s will serve its final pie at its current location on Nov. 28, then open one day later open in 1 Front St. The 1 Front Street location is bigger and will no doubt still attract a lot of tourists. What do you think about the move?

(Photo by New York Big Apple Images)

For more info on current restaurants, go to grimaldisnyc.com and no1-frontstreet.com.

One Front Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
(at Old Fulton Street in Fulton Ferry Landing)

Here’s a new listing for a 2100 sqft triplex co-op at the Eagle Warehouse building in Fulton Ferry Landing. It’s listed as a 1 bedroom, 2 bath but says that it can be “easily converted to a 3-4 bed, 3 bath”. The upper level features a 14 ft ceiling and the lower level is open/flexible but no windows. Price is $1,495,000 ($711 per sqft), $1,569/month maintenance. This seems reasonable given the building and location, but there’s another listing for a triplex in the same building for a 1,675sqft, 1 bed, 2 bath, but is lower cost at $699,000 ($417 per sqft), $1,558/month maintenance. Big difference in price per square feet.

Also, here is a general market snapshot of the real estate in Dumbo (from Streeteasy.com):

Previously:
{Dumbo Is One of the Most Expensive NYC Neighborhoods (Q2 2011)}

B25 Bus (Photo by Jane Kratochvil)

State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assembly Member Joan Millman and Council Member Steve Levin invite you to a Transportation Town Hall for DUMBO, Fulton Ferry Landing and Downtown Brooklyn. Join in for a discussion about ongoing transportation issues in our neighborhood, featuring representatives from the MTA, the NYC Dept. of Transportation, and NYPD’s 84th Precinct.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 7:30pm – 8:30pm
55 Washington Street, Room 216 Brooklyn, NY
RSVP to belinda@danielsquadron.org

Dumbo has been talking about yesterday’s discussion of new parking signs, and the B25 Bus Route on Main Street. If you have opinions on the tour buses on Old Fulton Street, York/Front Street redesign, lack of parking, enforcement (or lack thereof)?

Have your opinions heard!

(Photo by Steve Talkowsk)

The following is the anticipated construction work schedule (7am – 3:30pm work hours), field conditions permitting for this week. Please note that parking may be restricted in work areas.

• 1/4/11 through 2/11/11 – Old Fulton Street B/T Everit Street and Furman Street at Pier # 1, Finish the Roadway restoration and 6” air cock connection
• 1/4/11 through 2/11/11 – Washington Street B/T Water Street and Front Street, Backfill the entire trench and place Temp. asphalt on the roadway
• 1/4/11 through 2/11/11 – Washington Street B/T Water Street and Plymouth Street, Backfill over the 15” sewer and excavate for the sewer installation at Plymouth St.
• 1/4/11 through 2/11/11 – Water Street B/T Washington Street and Adams Street, Continue Excavating and installing 36” Trunk Main and valve chambers

For more information, please refer to the Community Advisory Notice sent to us by The New York City Department of Design and Construction (NYCDDC) (PDF here), which is managing a capital construction project on Water Street from Adams Street to Old Fulton Street and Washington Street from York Street to Plymouth Street.

For More Information Contact: The Community Construction Liaison Paul Kidder 718-643-2850.

Previously:
{Pile Driving on Washington Street, 17Dec2010}
{Two Way Washington Street, 10Nov2010}
{Washington Street Construction (Oct 19 Update)}
{Washington Street Construction (Sept Update), 22Sept2010}
{Asbestos Abatement Project, 27Aug2010}
{Washington Street Construction Update, 13Aug2010}
{Construction Around Dumbo Through 2011+, 10May2010}
{Notice: Cars Parked on Dock Street, 12Apr2010}
{Water Street Reconstruction Update (Mar/Apr 2010), 10Mar2010}
{Water/Washington St Reconstruction Project Update, 03Dec2009}
{Belgian Block Reconstruction to Begin, 04May2009}