Snack Dragon on 3rd Street is Closing; Steve Croman Tripled the Rent
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Neighborhood standbys are dropping like flies these days. Just look around. The rampant speculation shows no signs of easing and is killing the Lower East Side.
Snack Dragon at 199 East Third Street is next; it’ll be closing its headquarters after business on July 31. The minuscule taco shack has been serving locals an eclectic experience for over a decade.
Notorious slumlord Steve Croman owns the property and reportedly tripled the rent to $3,900 for a paltry 100 square-feet of space. It’s simply not doable. Owner Josephine Jansen tells us that Croman refuses to renegotiate a lease for the store. After all, the man probably wants a steady influx of short-lived tenants to keep boosting his bottom line.
Meanwhile, the outpost at 164 Orchard Street will remain in place for the time being, despite recent real estate listings to the contrary. Though, Jansen affirms that “NYC is nearly an impossible climate to operate in.”
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