A white sign that sits atop the New Capitol Restaurant at 2 Kingsbridge Road in the Bronx caused business owners and local politicians to protest last week. The sign’s message: “Development property for sale, 2-12 Kingsbridge Road thru 252-67 Jerome Ave.”
Dozens gathered on Dec. 7 to demonstrate against what business owners are saying is landlord Henry Kessler and his real estate company’s attempt to gentrify the neighborhood by evicting them and selling their properties for the potential business ventures to come from the neighboring Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment.
Joined by local pols and members of the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, the business owners are demanding long term leases they say they don’t have currently, and by extension, their spot in the community.
“What are the first signs of a neighborhood that’s being gentrified and displaced? Evictions,” Juan Nuñez, the lead armory organizer with the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition, said in the 32-degree weather last week. “Not just residential evictions, which this district has some of the highest, but commercial evictions too.”
According to Kessler, however, the tenants in question along Kingsbridge Road and Jerome Avenue have been paying 20% to 30% of the value of their individual retail spaces for the six-plus years he’s owned the properties.
“I don’t know what they’re belly-aching about, because they shouldn’t be,” he told the Bronx Times on Dec. 11. “They should be really very happy of what they’ve had all these years.”
Kessler said his original plan after purchasing the properties just over six years ago was to redevelop them, but when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the company put that on hold. Now that the market has changed, though, he said he wants to sell the properties for a profit.
“We’ve kept the rents low, we’ve let the tenants stay there with no leases for almost seven years,” Kessler said. “So they’ve had a wonderful time of it and now the armory is being developed and hopefully our property will be of more value.”
He confirmed with the Bronx Times that tenants currently pay month-to-month, with no official lease.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced $200 million in grants for the armory’s redevelopment this summer — which originally opened as a military facility in 1917 but has sat mostly dormant for almost 30 years. According to the Together for Kingsbridge Vision Plan, the community wants to turn the armory into a space for film and television, sustainable manufacturing, emerging technologies or urban agriculture.
While talks of a revamp have been floated over the for decades — and while there have been failed attempts at turning the space into a shopping mall and an ice rink — Bronx pols have said the $200 million announced in August will give the Kingsbridge Armory the boost it needs to actually begin its transformation. The city request for proposal (RFP) process — bids from qualified contractors to fulfill a project — for the armory was announced this fall. The Kingsbridge Armory RFP deadline is Jan. 18, 2024.
And as evidenced by the rally last week, some Kingsbridge merchants don’t feel the imminent opportunity that accompanies the armory’s redevelopment — they feel its impending doom.
“Somos una comunidad humilde,” said Council Member Pierina Sanchez, who represents Kingsbridge in Council District 14, in Spanish. “Nosotros sabemos que la vibrancia de la comunidad se basa en quienes están aquí.” (Translation: “We’re a humble community. We know that the vibrance of this community is based on the people here [today].”)
Sanchez said some of the businesses at risk of eviction have been staples of the neighborhood for upwards of 30 years — which include a restaurant, a barbershop, a flower shop, an electronics store, and a stationary store where a handful of customers were lined up to play the lotto on Thursday.
The New Capitol restaurant has been sitting on the southwest corner of Kingsbridge Road and Jerome Avenue for 55 years. During the protest Sanchez spoke about eating at the restaurant as a young girl with her family, stating that New Capitol operating without the security of a lease “no es justo” — it’s not right.
Inside New Capitol there’s a competing sign contradicting the one that sits atop the restaurant, which on a dry erase board reads: “Welcome to New Capitol Restaurant. The restaurant is NOT for sale!! Please seat yourselves and enjoy your meal.”
Employees said restaurant management was unavailable for further comment after the protest last week.
Down the street on Jerome Avenue sits Lucy’s Flower Shop, which was brimming with bright green house plants from the floor to the ceiling.
Jorge Corona, whose mom Lucila Saavedra has owned the shop for more than 25 years after she moved to the U.S. from Mexico, described it as a typical family-owned business. Corona and his other five siblings have helped their mom run the place, especially with translating for English-speaking customers, throughout most of their childhoods.
New landlords came in a few years ago and jacked up the rent prices substantially, he said, for multiple merchants on the block.
“She’s had good years, bad years, but she never gave up,” Corona said.
“This is like a second home. There were times I would sleep here, I wouldn’t go home, because she had long nights (with) a lot of work,” he added. “So we can’t let go of this spot.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly named landlord Henry Kessler’s real estate company. The company is called Henry Kessler of First New Kingsbridge LLC.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com and ET Rodriguez at etrodriguez317@gmail.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
