QUEENS — Ever since the Department of Health closed Forest Hills Baluchi’s last February, its building has fallen into a state of disrepair, with its walls crumbling and windows covered with paper and graffiti.
But the owner of the property, P.C. Richard and Son, said Friday that the company is planning to start looking for a new tenant soon.
The restaurant, part of an Indian chain, at 113-30 Queens Blvd., was shuttered last year after inspectors found mice and cockroaches inside, according to the DOH.
Last May, the restaurant owner Rohan Aggarwal told DNAinfo New York that the restaurant was being remodeled and would reopen in the fall.
Aggarwal said back then that he was planning to decorate the space with furniture imported from India and wanted to introduce a new concept at the location, similar to Brazilian-style churrascarias, where waiters come to the table with skewers and serve unlimited meat and vegetables at a fixed price.
But the restaurant never reopened, and the site has become an eyesore instead, frustrating local residents who have been expressing their disappointment on a neighborhood Facebook page.
Aggarwal did not return multiple phone calls and emails seeking comment.
But the Baluchi's chain seems to be scaling down its enterprise, with several other locations closing recently. An employee at the Brooklyn location said that currently it’s the only Baluchi’s restaurant that remains open, although earlier this year the company said it was planning to take over a Pakistani restaurant in Tribeca.
On Friday, a representative for P.C. Richard and Son, which owns the property on Queens Boulevard between 76th Road and 76th Avenue, and has one of its stores in the same complex, said that Baluchi’s lease expired a couple of month ago and the company is planning to start looking for a new tenant soon.