West Harlem's Floridita was closed by Columbia back in April for some kitchen repairs and the Columbia Spectator sheds some light on the fate of the local neighborhood business that's been around for over three decades. Columbia owns the building that houses the Cuban restaurant at 125th Street (on the corner of Broadway) and has been embattled with the restaurant owner and two other holdouts in buildings that the university doesn't own at the footprint of the planned new Manhattanville campus. Earlier this year, a New York State Supreme Court decision declared that eminent domain was being illegally used in the West Harlem neighborhood, and today is the big day for the case to be presented in the Court of Appeals. Floridita, which was in threat of eviction at one point, seems to be talking to CU about a new location. Apparently an alternate lease proposal is on the table but there has been no word if either parties have come to any agreement on the terms. Read more about it in the Columbia Spectator: LINK. Photo by Ulysses
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
☞ SHOP: Will Floridita Reopen Elsewhere?
West Harlem's Floridita was closed by Columbia back in April for some kitchen repairs and the Columbia Spectator sheds some light on the fate of the local neighborhood business that's been around for over three decades. Columbia owns the building that houses the Cuban restaurant at 125th Street (on the corner of Broadway) and has been embattled with the restaurant owner and two other holdouts in buildings that the university doesn't own at the footprint of the planned new Manhattanville campus. Earlier this year, a New York State Supreme Court decision declared that eminent domain was being illegally used in the West Harlem neighborhood, and today is the big day for the case to be presented in the Court of Appeals. Floridita, which was in threat of eviction at one point, seems to be talking to CU about a new location. Apparently an alternate lease proposal is on the table but there has been no word if either parties have come to any agreement on the terms. Read more about it in the Columbia Spectator: LINK. Photo by Ulysses
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Live blogging today by the Columbia Spectator crew:
ReplyDeletehttp://spectrum.columbiaspectator.com/spectrum/liveblogging-todays-mville-hearing
i dont really understand. if columbia is the owner of the building, what does eminent domain have to do with it? they can do whatever they want if they own the building, no?
ReplyDeleteExactly Anon 4:33. Eminent Domain has nothing to do with this instance. Columbia can legally evict them from the building period.
ReplyDeleteWhat this does say is CU is being more than fair to lots of the community. Anyone who is against CU expanding and providing jobs and benefits for the community are a little ridiculous.
A property owner can not just terminate a lease contract. In order to get around waiting for the lease to expire, condemning a building can get rid of tenant i.e. the building is blighted....must tear down blight!!! Eminent Domain works when you declare everything blighted.
ReplyDeleteThe eminent domain dispute is over two other locations in Manhattanville - Tuck-it-Away Storage and the gas station- that are not owned or controlled by Columbia.
ReplyDeleteFloridita is a separate issue. The Spectator has done a bang-up job reporting on Manhattanville issues for the past several years. Reading between the lines of their Floridita coverage it seems like the restaurant owner and Columbia just don't communicate well.
The NY1 interview explains that Columbia would be using eminent domain to terminate the Floridita lease early:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/94608/west-harlem-restaurant-worries-about-columbia-expansion/
Hi all-
ReplyDeleteIm new to the area and blog, but I am curious...does anyone think Floridita or a similar venue could "make it" on the 125th st. corridor?
I do think a Floridita type place could make it on the 125th street cooridor. However, in the mainstream part of 125th (this is the Viaduct area), I would go either right below or right above. As I've said before on this blog, you don't tend to find that many interesting retaurants right on major cooridors anywhere in NYC - 14th street, Houston Street, 23rd, etc. - although there are some notable exceptions to this. I would go right above or below ...
ReplyDeleteI think Floridita could make it on 125th.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you consider "the Viaduct area"
14th and 7th used to have Sucelt Coffee shop (sp?)which was a small little cuban diner. It closed a couple of years ago to my dismay. All 3 of my favorite cuban places have closed in the past 5 years: Floridita, Sucelt, and the one on broadway near 108th. Can't remember the name - I must be getting old.
I remember Sucelt! The best coffee ever! I still have one of their t-shirts!
ReplyDeleteIn the process of Columbia expanding for jobs and benefits of people working for their corporation, they are destroying jobs and benefits for the less affluent, working class people of the neighborhood.
ReplyDelete