In Historic Move, Bari Restaurant Equipment is Relocating its Manufacturing off the Bowery
Another big change is happening on the Bowery. And it’s indicative of the overall trend taking hold.
Bari Restaurant Equipment, the eight-decade-old restaurant supplier on the Bowery, is shifting some of its resources away from the thoroughfare. The Bari family is reportedly moving the manufacturing arm of its business from the headquarters building, instead relocating across the Hudson to New Jersey. As it stands, this function encompasses both 234 Bowery and 5 Prince Street, the two buildings it purchased last summer for a combined $12.3 million. Its famed pizza equipment is assembled and maintained in these connected storefronts.
Evidence of this shift appeared late last week in the form of a subtle leasing sign.
“The real estate market does not warrant manufacturing in NYC,” owner Frank Bari told us in an email. “We were/are probably one of the last [commercial manufacturers] to do so. But Bari will be around [the Lower East Side] for a while.”
The goal is to get pretty much any kind of tenant except food. Retail or gallery is the likely choice. No restaurants.
Bari’s supply business was established in the 1940s by Nicola Bari, a radio repairman and purveyor of cheese graters. In the ensuing years, the focus became restaurant supplies of all sorts, albeit with a focus on pizza ovens and refrigeration units. Their block-spanning flagship is a veritable gold mine, and gave the community a scare some eight years ago when the building – about 67,000 square-feet of buildable real estate – was placed on the open market.
Bari, June 2016
Recent Stories
Vision Urbana Donates 1,500 Turkeys to NYCHA Residents in Largest Turkey Drive on the Lower East Side
The turkeys are coming! This week, Vision Urbana announced the largest ever turkey drive on the Lower East Side. It’s a feat which provides turkeys to over 1,500 families in NYCHA this Thanksgiving. Door-to-door turkey drop-offs have already begun, via Vision Urbana’s food pantry home delivery network. Just in time for folks to have their […]
Clayton’s Corner: Bloodied at the Bodega
We received a dispatch from Clayton Patterson about an aggro homeless man bothering business at the SX Grocery. You’ll recall that the family-owned bodega fell victim to an ATM cash machine heist, in which the robbers made off with $8,000 cash. Now, the store is apparently contending with an area homeless man who is “very […]
B&H Dairy Robbed, Cash Register Stolen
B&H Dairy is licking its wounds following yet another criminal incident on-premise. Late Monday night, the restaurant was robbed. Ownership reported on Facebook that its front door was compromised and its cash register stolen. The perp ran with the bounty around the corner to East Seventh Street, where co-owner Ola Abdelwahed found the machine busted […]
Astor Place Hair Saved by Deep Pocketed Investors, Including its Landlord
Astor Place Hair was all set to close this week, concluding an impressive seven-decade run. The pandemic reduced customers and business plummeted. Thanks to an eleventh-hour cash infusion, though, the barbershop will stay put. Indeed, news broke yesterday that a conglomerate of investors joined forces to raise the necessary capital. The group includes financier Jonathan […]
Eight Years After Extell, Still No Supermarket for Two Bridges
With One Manhattan Square an eyesore of the Lower East Side skyline for so long, it’s almost impossible to remember what came before. Almost. Indeed, it’s been eight years since Pathmark officially closed its doors, leaving the surrounding Two Bridges community bereft of an affordable supermarket. For much of the local population, a walk to […]
