GrandLo Cafe at Essex Crossing Shuts Down for Good
GrandLo Cafe won’t survive Covid-19. The two-year-old operation announced it’s permanently shuttering.
The Grand Street Settlement’s social enterprise program at 178 Broome might be down, but they’re not entirely out. GrandLo has committed to completing their training program remotely, to keep trainees on their career pathway.
There are also plans in the works to reoccupy the Essex Crossing space once the current health crisis passes. It’ll reopen as the GrandLo Cafe Community Resource Center, which intends to focus on services to help neighborhood residents build resilience and rebound from the economic crisis. It will include “connection to government benefits, entitlements, tax preparation, nutrition and food distribution, employment, and training, among other services.” Presumably this will help them hold onto the $50,000 grant from the Keith Haring Foundation.
From the press release:
We have made the difficult decision to close GrandLo Café as a restaurant because of the current economic and public health crisis. We are feeling the same business impact of all other restaurants, and the economics of the business are not sustainable at this time…
Without you, we couldn’t have given so many young people a new outlook on life. We couldn’t have given them valuable job skills that changed their trajectory and pushed them towards their goals. You did that. By buying that coffee and that muffin, you made this happen. Thank you.
Recent Stories
The Push to Save New York Eye and Ear Infirmary Building, as LPC Stalls
With plans to close the 165-year-old New York Eye and Ear Infirmary building on Second Avenue, demolition is likely the next step. Preservation-minded groups have been lobbying the city to save the building from possible destruction. Led by Village Preservation, the organization sent a Request for Evaluation letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission on April […]
Excavation Underway on Affordable Grand Street Guild Towers
Work is officially underway on two new towers adjacent to the Williamsburg Bridge. On-site excavation has been ongoing for several weeks at Broome and Clinton Streets, yielding plenty of dust and noise for neighbors. Earlier this year, demolition crews razed the two-story parking garage and Little Star early childhood center in the shadow of the […]
Mr. Fong’s Owner Plans All Day Cafe on Hester Street
Another day, another principal of Mr. Fong’s starting a new Lower East Side venture. Aisa Shelley – who co-founded the Chinatown hotspot with Lucas Moran, Noah Shelley, Daniel Eric Gold and Adam Moonves – is headed to 61 Hester Street. The long-inactive storefront previously occupied by L’estudio. There, Shelley will impart an “all day cafe” […]
Truck Hits ‘OhK Dog’ Dining Shed on Ludlow Street
Ludlow Street neighbors began Saturday with the sound of a large crash. It was the sound of the OhK Dog dining shed collapsing to the ground. From what we gather, a truck driver headed southbound on Ludlow struck the popular restaurant’s outdoor annex. No one was hurt in the incident. This was apparently the second […]
New 21-Story Tower Begins Ascent on Market Street
A former Lower East Side parking lot is meeting its skyscraping destiny. Another tower. The through-block parcel on Henry Street, just west of Market, is already on its upward ascent. The new mixed-use development at 59 Henry will ultimately rise 21 stories (227 feet), with 57,395 square-feet of residential floor area and 40,305 square-feet for […]
