Plans for Pelham Bay Diner to become medical facility: CB 11
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Something is cooking once
again at 1920 E. Gun Hill Road; a
large property best known for 37
years as the award-winning Pelham
Bay Diner, which shut off its
fryers for the last time at the end of
January.
Community Board 11 said on
Thursday, August 1 that the onestory
building is going to be converted
and repurposed into a
medical facility over the next few
months.
Throughout the summer, a
green work fence has surrounded
the vacant diner as its interior is
being converted from booths and
grills to examination tables and offi
ces.
CB 11 also said it has received
complaints about illegal dumping
on and around the property since
its closure.
A black garbage bag full of large
recently caught, un-scaled fi sh was
lying adjacent to the lot on its Ely
Avenue side on Tuesday, July 23, in
addition to other bags of trash.
New York commercial real estate
mogul Jeff Sutton acquired the
29,800 square foot property along
I-95 from the diner’s owners, Jerry
Stefanitsis and his wife. The married
operators labored for almost
The Pelham Bay Diner property with consturction debris and garbage on Tuesday, July 23. Schneps Media/ Alex Mitchell
four decades before accepting Sutton’s
offer.
Sutton’s group, Wharton Properties,
rang up a $10.25 million tab
for the Pelham Bay Diner and its
surrounding parking lot, tip excluded.
The diner property that Sutton
acquired is bordered on the east by
a ‘hot sheets motel’, the Pelham Garden
Motel, at 2410 Grace Avenue.
Sutton used some of the proceeds
generated by the sale of four
downtown Brooklyn properties
worth $22 million to United American
Land, according to Real Deal
New York, to purchase the Gun Hill
Road property, which is sited adjacent
to The Home Depot.
Wharton boasts ownership of
vibrant, high-ceiling commercial
properties scattered throughout
Midtown such as the Swarovski
in Times Square and the famed
Crown Building property at 730
Fifth Avenue, as well as properties
in the Bronx, on its website.
Sutton’s growing Bronx portfolio
is scattered throughout the borough.
Wharton currently owns the
2-story Westchester Square Duane
Reade building at 2641 E. Tremont
Avenue, the Footaction property at
272 E. Fordham Road, Payless Shoe
Source-occupied building at 2902
Third Ave, several 1-story commercial
sites at 306 E. 204th Street and
3377 Eastchester Road, along with
Hillside Post Offi ce Station at 3480
Boston Road and a Rite Aid-leased
property at 5825 Broadway. This
will be Sutton’s fi rst foray into medical
related property in the Bronx
once completed.
In the late 1950s, that building
was built to house the Gun Hill
Manor, a popular catering venue
for weddings, anniversaries and
many other special occasions.
When the Stefanitsis’ opened
their diner, it quickly became recognized
for it’s tantalizing Greek
specialties along with the popular
‘Pelham Bay Burger’ and ‘Bronx
Skillet’ breakfast special, that fed
many a hungry traveller coming
off the New York State Thruway or
the Hutchinson River Parkway.
Even former Mayor Michael
Bloomberg chowed down at the
diner some years ago, as did the
likes of former Borough President
Fernando Ferrer and Super Bowl
champion, New York Jet, and
Bronxite Willie Colon.
For the every-day Bronxite, the
24/7 diner was ‘the late night spot’
where you could bet that you’d run
into someone you knew at any hour
of the night.
Stefanistis and family still operate
a waterfront Mediterranean
Restaurant called Molos that overlooks
Hells Kitchen at 1 Pershing
Road in Weehawken, NJ.
Sutton did not return requests
for comment before deadline.
3 BRONX WEEKLY August 11, 2019 www.BXTimes.com
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