Alleva Dairy Crowdfunding to Stay Alive in Little Italy
Photo: Apple Maps
Alleva Dairy is not ready to say arrivederci.
The beloved cheese shop in Little Italy is struggling to stay afloat as eviction proceedings aim to end its longtime neighborhood tenure.
The landlord of the Grand Street shop – Jerome G. Stabile III – filed a lawsuit back in April to recover years of owed back rent. Court records indicate that the monthly dole on the lease is $23,756, with a total owed of approximately half-a-million-dollars. If successful in the legal proceeding, Alleva will be evicted.
Three months hence, Alleva owner Karen King put together a GoFundMe drive to help keep the doors open, as it were.
“The troubles began in March 2020 with COVID-19,” the online appeal reads. “It quickly left Little Italy with no tourists, no pedestrian traffic, and no way to earn a living or sustain revenue.”
To date, the fundraiser has collected nearly $3,000 of its stated $150,000 goal.
King and her late husband John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia — a relative of the founding Alleva family and unofficial mayor of Mulberry Street — together purchased the cheese store in 2014 to keep it in business. (Ciarcia had brought in actor-friend Tony Danza as a partner in Alleva.)
Alleva is known for its selection of imported Italian cheeses, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, cured meats, cannolis and more
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