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
Talkin’ ’bout My Generation: Memories of Bill Graham and the Fillmore East
While working on our story about the new “Bill Graham and The Rock & Roll Revolution” exhibit at the New-York Historical Society, this reporter started collecting personal stories and memories of Graham’s legendary music venue, the Fillmore East. Located on Second Avenue and East 6th Street, the building began life in 1926 as The Commodore, […]
Chatham Square Library Closed for ‘Building Repairs’ Until Next Month
The Chatham Square Library is currently down for maintenance. The so-called “building repairs and improvements” are scheduled to last through February 29, with the library itself to reopen the following Monday (March 2). Until then, borrowers can return books and periodicals to the Seward Park branch just down East Broadway. The Chatham Square branch of […]
Hua Mei Bird Garden Receives Protective Fence from Flying Balls
You may have noticed the chain-link fence standing toward the Delancey perimeter of the sunken court on Broome Street. The Pit, as it’s nicknamed, was resurfaced with “sports coating” last summer, part of the city’s overarching attempt to redirect park space while the East River Park is bulldozed in the name of coastal resiliency. However, […]
‘Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution’ Opens at the New-York Historical Society
For many who grew up in a certain era, the name Bill Graham sparks Proustian memories of life-changing rock-and-roll shows. And if you were in San Francisco or New York City, the music impresario’s Fillmore concert venues were the greatest places in the world to see live music. Starting in 1965, Graham was booking and […]
Delancey Street Bodega Robbed at Gunpoint, Suspects at Large
Police are after two men suspected of holding up a Delancey Street bodega at gunpoint. The robbery – caught on camera – happened shortly before 4:30pm at the N&N Delancey Smoke Shop near the southwest corner of Allen Street. One suspect asked the clerk for cigarettes, while the other reportedly demanded money with an assault […]
