Oldest Cheese Store Closes in Little Italy

From the NY Post:

This 130-year-old business’s Manhattan storefront is parma-gone and mozzarel-ocating to the Garden State. 

Alleva Dairy’s longtime 188 Grand St. home may be gor-gone-zola, but the over-one-century-old Italian grocer isn’t letting the grate become the enemy of the good. Instead of throwing in the cheesecloth, they’re up and moving to New Jersey. 

“After serious consideration, Alleva Dairy at 188 Grand Street will close on Wednesday, March 1 at 6 P.M.,” said owner Karen King, who bought the fromage factory with her late husband John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia — a friend of Tony Danza and descendent of Alleva’s founding family — in 2014. “I am so thankful for the support I have received from my devoted customers, neighbors, the news media and strangers from across the country.” 

Alleva Dairy.
The closure follows a court battle over the more than $500,000 worth of back rent owned to the building’s landlord.
Alleva Dairy
Alleva Dairy’s longtime 188 Grand St. home will be moving to New Jersey.

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alleva dairy moves to jersey
Karen King in a truck with Alleva’s signs.

Nothing gouda can stay in New York, it seems, as Alleva — which opened in 1892 and is billed as the nation’s oldest cheese store — is now banking on doing feta beyond the boroughs.

“Thanks to the vision, generosity and commitment of businessman and developer, Jack Morris, President and CEO, of Edgewood Properties, Alleva Dairy will be opening a 3,700-square-foot store at 9 Polito Ave. in Lyndhurst, NJ,” King continued, adding that “One thing is certain, Alleva Dairy will continue and will be bigger and better than before.”

Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) Releases Report Measuring Visitation Rates in Office Buildings in Manhattan

This report was recently released by REBNY:

To date, much of the discussion of NYC’s office visit and/or the rate of return to office has focused on estimating a single market average. Such headline rates have been helpful to gauge the direction of the overall market, and in fact show gains in workers being in the office from 2020 levels. However, a single rate does not capture significant differences between buildings. To get a fuller perspective, REBNY performed a preliminary analysis of Placer.ai location data. Results indicate that this location data provides a more nuanced and comprehensive picture of Manhattan’s office building visitation rates.

Preliminary analysis of Placer.ai data in 2022 indicates*:

  • Average building visitation rates in 2022 surpassed 60% of pre-pandemic baselines
  • Visitation rates in nearly two-thirds of buildings exceeded 50% of pre-pandemic baselines
  • Class A properties displayed stronger growth (66.3% average visitation rate) in comparison to Class B properties (53.6% average visitation rate)

*All totals are based on Placer.ai location intelligence data for 250 office buildings from January to mid-December in 2021 and 2022, compared to the same period in 2019.

More information on this study was reported by the NY Post.