Gramercy Institution Ess-A-Bagel Loses Lease, Will Likely Be Replaced By New Bagel Store
Ess-a-Bagel, along with nearby restaurants Grill 21 and Rose Restaurant in New York City's Gramercy neighborhood, have been denied lease renewals, and will be replaced by new businesses, reports Town & Village Blog.
Both Grill 21 and Rose Restaurant will close, while Ess-a-Bagel, which has been in its 1st Avenue location since 1976, is hoping to renegotiate a deal, or else move to a new location. "There's a lot that's up in the air," owner David Wilson told Town & Village.
Ess-a-Bagel's second location is on 3rd Avenue in New York City's Flatiron district.
According to Wilson, tensions with his landlord began after Florence Wilson, Ess-a-Bagel's founder and Wilson's aunt, died in 2013, in the midst of a lease negotiation.
In the wake of her death, as the family was organizing Florence's will and other family matters, the landlord claimed that the family was not "getting back to them in a timely fashion."
In Ess-a-Bagel's place, Wilson says that a bank and another bagel store will take up residence, splitting the property in two.
Both Ess-a-Bagel and Grill 21 are expected to close at the end of the month.