Venerable Neighborhood Institution Succumbs to Rising Rents
The pizza emporium on South End Avenue that has served generations of Lower Manhattan residents, Picasso, abruptly shut down on Friday evening, after months of uncertainty over whether it would be possible to renew the lease on terms that would allow the store to remain in business.
Owner Michael Magliulo, Jr. said, “right up until Friday, we were negotiating, but we couldn’t reach an agreement. We were paying a little more than $15,000 per month, which was split between the landlord of Gateway Plaza and the real estate lawyer who held the lease, from whom we were subleasing. Gateway wanted to increase that by several thousand dollars per month, but also wanted me to keep paying several thousand dollars each month to the investor who held the lease, even though his tenancy is about to expire. Without that middleman, I could have afforded to pay Gateway more than they were getting and more rent than I was originally paying, but the extra margin for the go-between guy would have brought it to around $20,000 per month, and that would have bankrupted us. Plus, Gateway wanted us to make improvements to the space, which put the deal completely out of reach.”
Spokespersons for Gateway and the attorney who holds the lease for the space were unavailable to comment over the weekend.
“Gateway originally told me they didn’t want a middleman involved anymore, and they wanted to rent the space to me directly,” Mr. Magliulo continued. “But then they changed their minds, and refused to negotiate with me directly, and insisted that I go through the lawyer whose name is on the lease. I was trying to be fair, and I tried my best to make a deal, but they just weren’t interested.”
Mr. Magliulo has been doing business in Lower Manhattan for almost 50 years, starting with a pizza restaurant on Fulton Street in the 1970s. He learned the trade from his father, Michael Magliulo, Sr., who, in turn, apprenticed in the art of pizza-making in Naples, Italy, with his own grandfather, in the 1950s.
He and his father launched Picasso Pizza on South End Avenue in the late 1990s. “I’ve been part of this community, and watched it grow. Mr. Magliulo said. “I’ve seen generations of kids grow up, and when they became parents themselves, bring their own kids back to eat here. I’ve sponsored Little League teams, and catered school events. It’s really sad to see all of that go away.”
Concerns about the future of Picasso arose last October, when Gateway first posted online notices marketing the space (along with the storefront currently occupied by Bulls & Bears Winery, next door) as available to rent.
“Once I saw that,” Mr. Magliulo recalled, “I began trying to place my employees at other restaurants, owned by my friends in the business. Most of them have been with me for decades. I was able to find jobs for everybody, but not at the salaries I was paying, because my people all earned much more than the usual rates. I paid everybody between $27 and $30 per hour.”
Asked about the future of the community he has become a part of, Mr. Magliulo said, “one of the employees at Gateway told me they want to combine the Picasso space with Bulls & Bears, and rent it out to Northwell Health. One thing I can predict almost for certain is that whatever replaces us won’t be a small business, like mine. It will be a large, corporate tenant. That changes the fabric of a neighborhood.”
On Friday evening, before he locked the door for the last time, Mr. Magliulo posted a handwritten sign in the window, reading: “For 26 years Picasso Pizzeria has been a neighborhood staple providing high quality pizza and Italian food in a warm atmosphere. It is through our great team and loyal guests that we had such a tremendous run. It saddens us to say that run has come to an end. Michael Magliulo Jr., the owner (subtenant of this unit) couldn’t access a fair new lease as a tenant. We want to thank our beloved team and loyal patrons for your support over the years.”
By Saturday afternoon, this banner was answered by more than a dozen handwritten notices that had posted on outside of the window (some apparently from young children), offering condolences and expressing a sense of loss that a local mainstay was gone. One read in part: “My heart is broken. Please come back.”