10
QUEENS WEEKLY, JULY 14, 2019
Rego Park’s Shalimar Diner meets the wrecking ball
BY BILL PARRY
The former Shalimar
Diner in Rego Park is
now but a memory.
The iconic Rego Park
eatery, which served
the community for 45
years, was destroyed by
its new property owner
Wednesday as the efforts
of two men who grew up in
Forest Hills and hoped to
move the diner to another
location fell through.
Photos of the
demolished diner, reduced
to rubble behind a green,
plywood construction
fence, circulated across
local Facebook groups on
the afternoon of July 10.
In April, local
preservasionist Michael
Perlman started looking
for an ally that could save
the diner and transport
it to a new location.
Perlman enlisted real
estate attorney and
entrepreneur Ronald
Hariri who wanted
to transport the
structure to a parcel of
land Hariri owns in the
Suffolk County hamlet
of Aquebogue.
Former Mets
outfielder Lenny Dykstra
would round out the team
helping to market the
Shalimar as a brewery
and diner.
“We tried but the
diner would not fit in
with the zoning on my
property in Riverhead,”
Harriri said. “We feel
terrible but they have
restrictive zoning with
certain architectural
requirements that
prohibited this type
of structure. I had my
architect look into it and
it was determined that
if we went for a zoning
variance it could have
taken years.”
For Hariri, who grew
up in the neighborhood
and graduated from
Forest Hills High School,
his attempt to save the
diner was personal.
“I spent a lot of time at
the Shalimar Diner when
I was growing up,” Hariri
said. “We had the people
lined up, we just couldn’t
save it.”
Ten days before the
Shalimar Diner closed for
good in November 2018,
three holding companies
closed on a $6.55 million
cash deal for the
property at 63-38 Austin
St. and the adjacent
parking lot.
The commercial
developer is listed as 63-
38 Austin LLC, which
could not be reached for
comment.
The city Department
of Buildings said there
have been no applications
filed for a new building
at the property but the
developer has begun
demolition. The lot is
currently zoned R4 with
a C2 overlay, meaning
that a one-story retail
building, or a mixed-use
building with stores on
the first floor, can be
built as of right, among
other possibilities.
“I spoke to the new
owner just a couple of
weeks ago,” Hariri said
without divulging the
owner’s name. “He’s got
his plans and at some point
you’ve just got to move
on and that’s apparently
what he did. We’re
very disappointed.”
Hariri added, “We’ll
try for the next one.”
Before the wrecking
ball hit Wednesday,
Perlman remained
hopeful that the Shalimar
could be saved.
“I reached out to the
Shalimar diner property
developer and asked him
to halt all demolition
ASAP,” Perlman said
in an email early
Wednesday morning.
“Another interested party
has come forward, and
would like to tranport
the Shalimar Diner to
Kingston, N.Y.”
Hours later, the iconic
eatery was reduced to a
pile of rubble. Perlman,
who became known as
“Diner Man” after he
brokered deals to move
the Moondance Diner
from SoHo to Wyoming
and the Cheyenne
Diner from Midtown
to Alabama, had no
further comment.
After plans to rescue the Shalimar Diner fell through, developers tore down the iconic, closed
eatery on July 10. Courtesy of Michael Perlman
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