Luncheonette may soon be history

The Center luncheonette owned by Marc Wein has been vacant since late June 2009. Mr. Wein plans to convert it into a real estate office, which requires a special permit from the Town Board.

Once known as Getty’s, Nevel’s, Carol’s, Tom’s, the Osprey Cafand most recently John’s Grill, the shuttered luncheonette acrossfrom the school may soon bear another name but this time as a realestate office.

Owner Marc Wein has again petitioned the Town Board for aspecial permit to convert the former caf and stationery shop intooffice space to be used by his wife, Melina Wein, and her realestate brokerage.

Mr. Wein’s original application to change the business in 2007met with protests from Islanders who did not want to lose a locallandmark. The property has had a long history, dating back to theearly 1900s as a market, and in recent decades was a popular sodashop for school children and breakfast stop for locals.

But Mr. Wein’s efforts to run a business there or lease theproperty, which he bought in 2005, have been unsuccessful and insome ways unlucky. In 2007, a long-time store clerk was arrested ongrand larceny charges involving lottery tickets. New York Statenever reinstated the shop’s lottery license, a source of revenueand customer traffic.

With a business of his own in the city, Murray Hill Studios, andanother family business on the Island, Mr. Wein could not follow inthe footsteps of past owner-operators who often worked full-time inthe caf . Having to compete with Pat and Steve’s Restaurant andFedi’s Market has also been a challenge.

In 2007, Mr. Wein attempted to sell or lease the property, evenwhile his special permit application to permanently change its usefrom a coffee shop to office space triggered an impassioned publichearing. The coffee shop had operated as a pre-existing,non-conforming business in the B-1 district, the town’s strictestbusiness zone, which requires special permits for all newbusinesses and does not allow restaurants or markets. The TownBoard acknowledged at the hearing that it would have to grant thepermit so long as the proposed operation met the conditions of towncode.

But before the board voted on the permit, Mr. Wein leased theshop to John Michalak, who reopened it as John’s Grill in September2007. The economic downturn hit in 2008 and the store did notregain its popularity with school children. It closed last Juneimmediately after the 10K run.

Since then, Mr. Wein has advertised locally and in New York Cityand sought help from business brokers to find a family or merchantto take over the store, with an option to live in the apartmentabove it, he said during an interview Tuesday. He mentionedreaching out to six Islanders involved in food services to invitethem to relocate in his shop. Nothing materialized. “Melina ispaying rent and the place is sitting empty, he added. Ms. Weinrents the office building next to the coffee shop from DarrinBinder.

“I’d like to be able to reconfigure it and move Melina there,Mr. Wein explained. His plans were reviewed by the Town Board forcompleteness during Tuesday’s work session, an initial step priorto setting a public hearing on the permit request.

The application is straightforward except for one issue -parking. As was noted in 2007, the property cannot provide thenumber of parking spaces required by the code, one for every 200square feet of commercial building space. To determine the requirednumber of spaces, the town includes the barn behind the store(requiring 7) and the apartment above it (4) for a total of 20spaces.

The problem isn’t whether workers and customers will haveadequate parking, Mr. Wein’s representative Matt Sherman said atTuesday’s work session. He asked the board to consider “what’sneeded by the code versus what we need for realistic use of theproperty.

Right now, the Wein realty office has nothing but curb-sideparking and it is adequate, according to Mr. Sherman. At theluncheonette property, four parked cars can be accommodated off thestreet, he said, with an additional three allowed along the curbfor a total of seven. He indicated that leasing space from theadjacent Presbyterian Church parking lot is being pursued.

The change in use from restaurant to office space would carry areduction in water use, Councilman Peter Reich noted, anenvironmental improvement.

“The only thing that isn’t in compliance is the parkingrequirement, Mr. Sherman concluded. And that may not be adeal-breaker. In 2007, the Planning Board, which maderecommendations on the Wein special permit application, suggestedthat the Town Board waive part of the off-street parkingrequirement.

The Town Board is expected to schedule a February public hearingon the application during its regular Friday meeting tomorrow,which begins at 4:30 p.m.