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Village Eatery to Close Amid Rent Hike and Construction Woes, Owner Says

By Danielle Tcholakian | April 24, 2015 4:02pm | Updated on April 27, 2015 8:45am
 Grano Trattoria will close at the end of April, the restaurant's owner said.
Grano Trattoria will close at the end of April, the restaurant's owner said.
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Grano Trattoria

WEST VILLAGE — An Italian eatery that has stood on Greenwich Avenue for 17 years will close for good at the end of April, according to a letter from the restaurant's owners.

Grano Trattoria, an Italian joint beloved by its smoke eater neighbors at FDNY Squad 18, is shuttering permanently because of years-long, ongoing street and building construction that Chef Maurizio Crescenzo says has ruined his business.

"Our view of the restaurant has been destroyed by scaffolding around the building," Crescenzo said in a video posted on the restaurant's website, in which he laments the water outages that he says have troubled his business.

Crescenzo will focus on his Lower East Side restaurant, Taverna Di Bacco, around the corner from Katz's Deli on Ludlow Street, he said.

A spokesman for the restaurant said the restaurant's lease is due to be renewed soon, and the landlord wanted to charge significantly more. The spokesman did not specify the amount, and the company that manages the building did not respond to requests for comment.

"The building is also structurally unsound which is scary — hence the scaffolding," added spokesman Andy Robson.

The Department of Buildings received a complaint to that effect in 2012, records show, when someone reported that the landlord's "failure to maintain" the building's interior stairs was about to cause the restaurant to cave in, and that the upper floor of the building was on the verge of collapse. But DOB investigators said they found "no evidence of structural defect" and that there was no danger of collapse, and they did not issue a violation.

DOB records show two active construction permits: one for exterior renovation to the facade, renewed in March of this year and expiring in March of next year, and another for a sidewalk shed that expires this June.

The company that manages the building at 21 Greenwich Ave. also did not respond to inquiries about the construction.