ROOSEVELT ISLAND — More than a year after it closed for renovation, Main Street's neighborhood diner, Trellis, is still shuttered.
While its new modern trellis-like exterior can be seen from the street, boards keeping the construction hidden have been painted on with loving encouragement, "Trellis, our home away from home" and "Please open soon."
Owners Alexander Razaghi and his father Kaie, who have run the restaurant for 17 years, plan to do just that, but trouble has unfolded as they have been working on the space.
Unexpected costs from an unseen structural issue and increases in contractor expenses have come up, pushing Alexander Razaghi to create a Kickstarter campaign to raise at least $50,000 to complete the renovation. The extra funds would help the diner open by the beginning of 2016, according to Razaghi.
"Raising $50,000 is my goal and that will take me a long way," Razaghi said on Tuesday. "Ideally, $250,000 would help me stop cutting corners and finish the store in the grandeur that was planned, but $50,000 would help me get the glass in. Regardless, I will do whatever is in my power."
The diner closed on Sept. 9, 2014 for renovation to completely update the 50-year-old restaurant with a new layout including a brand new bar, tables, floors and walls. The original project estimate was set at $400,000, but already Razaghi has spent $700,000, he said.
"When we first shut down to renovate we immediately started hitting problems," Razaghi said. "It might have been a much wiser financial decision to pack it up and go somewhere else. But I'm a big believer that everything is possible for those that dare."
In the middle of construction, the Razaghis found that a wall they were planning to put a bar on was actually a load bearing wall that had not been a part of the original blueprints of the building, so a stop work order was issued.
In order to get it lifted, they had to obtain approval for use of the wall from multiple agencies, Hudson Related, the Roosevelet Island Operating Corporation and the landlord, which put them four months behind schedule. Ultimately they hired new structural engineers and ended up rearranging the interior layout of the store so they wouldn't have to use the wall.
The delay meant postponing other contractors from coming in, including an electrician, a plumber and HVAC company, who said they would raise their prices if they had to come back later, Razaghi said.
The expenses have forced Razaghi, 30, to put a second mortgage on his home, max out his credit cards and extend his credit line, which is why he is seeking help now, he said.
"It's been an educational experience and it’s scary because my dad has been working seven days a week for the last 30 to 40 years to make this [living]," he said. "The reason this is being done is for me. I'm watching my father gamble his whole life, everything he's put together for this opportunity. Seeing things go dangerously close to losing everything ... I feel guilty a lot."
At age 13, Razaghi started as a dishwasher and bus boy at the diner 17 years ago when his dad took over management — the third person to do so in roughly 50 years.
"[The diner] was literally falling apart around people and God bless the customers and the island. They kept us in business," Razaghi said. "Not many people have the chance to have done something for so long and look back to see what adjustments to make and re-do it the right way."
He said he is looking forward to having a fresh and clean diner that will be "equally as impressive as the exterior."
When the father-son duo renewed their lease last year, they decided it was time to overhaul the aging restaurant, which had become a neighborhood meeting place for many because of its affordable and diverse fare — the menu had roughly 1,000 items, according to Razaghi.
For the reopening, the new menu will be scaled down but will still offer a wide range of dishes at a slightly higher, but affordable, price, Razaghi said.
Walter Sloan, 61, who lives on the island said he's been going to the diner for nine years.
"The guys are trying to get it done," he said outside the construction site. " We miss it and we need it. We can't afford the rest of the jokers up and down here."
The goal is to open before the new year begins, he said.
Razaghi, who lives nearby in Queens, said he dare not give up because he cares so much for the Roosevelet Island community that he has come to love.
"I feel that my father purposely went against [giving up] because of how I feel about the island," Razaghi said. "In the long run, it will be a great financial decision, but that's not the real reason I did it. The island is my home and I know everyone. If I had a Band-Aid on my finger walking down the street, 50 people would stop to ask me what the Band-Aid was for. In the same way the community has given to me, I have to give back."
