Great Performances caterers moving to Mott Haven
the pre-Christmas Eve blaze. www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY March 3, 2019 12
Alleged arson fi re knocks out 2 Morris Park stores
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
An arson fi re rocked a busy
commercial corridor.
A fi re in a second fl oor apartment
at 1003 and 1005 Morris
Park Avenue on Thursday, February
21 put two local shops on
the ground level temporarily out
of commission and resulted in an
arson arrest.
Ariel Santiago of 350 E. 143rd
Street was arrested and charged
with arson, reckless endangerment
and criminal mischief,
stated a NYPD offi cial.
According to a document
shared with the Bronx Times
written by a source in the FDNY,
the arrest resulted after an investigation
by fi re marshals disclosed
that the suspect allegedly
poured lighter fl uid on a sofa and
ignited it with papers lit by the
kitchen stove.
The blaze occurred in the
apartment above Luciano’s Pizza
and Kaizen Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
The fi re department was
called to the location at 12:57 a.m.
on February 21, arriving on the
scene in three minutes and 54 seconds,
and bringing the fi re under
control by 1:28 a.m., according to
the FDNY.
The ‘all hands’ fi re brought 12
responding units and 60 fi refi ghters
to the location.
Minor injuries to four civilians
and one fi refi ghter were reported.
Al D’Angelo, Morris Park
Community Association president,
said he was relieved that
the FDNY was able to contain the
fi re to the second fl oor apartment
above the shops, which suffered
water damage.
D’Angelo expressed serious
concerns about the arson allegation.
“This type of violence is something
that is foreign to Morris
Park,” said D’Angelo of the alleged
arson.
William Pedone, Morris Park
Business Improvement District
chairman, said that the BID
would be reaching out to the impacted
businesses.
“We will be reaching out to
them and offering any assistance
we can, maybe getting them in
touch with any programs, including
those through the Department
of Small Business Services,
who may be able to help,” said Pedone.
A spokesman for Councilman
Mark Gjonaj said that the offi ce
is waiting for the investigation to
play itself out.
Before news of the arson arrest,
and before the councilman
left on an overseas trip, Gjonaj
spoke to the Bronx Times about
the fi re.
The councilman said that he
has teamed up with the FDNY
and the Red Cross to provide fi re
prevention assessment surveys to
his constituents.
Morris Park was the scene
of another fi re at the start of the
winter that temporarily displaced
another business.
An electrical fi re on December
23, 2018 at approximately 10 a.m.,
forced the Avenue Cigar Lounge
at 1074 Morris Park Avenue to
temporarily close, its owner said.
The cigar lounge, which offers
a complete line of imported cigars,
was a popular meeting and
after work place for local people,
said a cigar store patron.
Owner Dominick Principato
said that he plans on reopening,
and is currently waiting on insurance
and is looking for another
possible space in Morris Park.
Principato said that area
residents, whether they smoked
cigars or not, appreciated the
lounge because it was open late
most evenings, and people felt the
street was safer.
Principato said that a neighboring
hair salon and an adjoining
apartment were impacted by
A fi re at the 1005 Morris Park Avenue that left four people with minor injuries is
the second on the commercial corridor since December.
Schneps Media / Photo by Patrick Rocchio
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
One of the city’s great names in
catering is making a move uptown
to the rapidly changing Mott Haven
area.
Great Performances, a caterer
that specializes in serving cultural
institutions, is planning a
move this summer from its current
headquarters in lower Manhattan
to a spacious new 41,000 square foot
space on the fi rst and third fl oors
of The Bruckner Building at 2417
Third Avenue.
Great Performances found a
space that nearly doubles its existing
footprint. The company prepares
and ships its fi nished gourmet
products to exclusive clients
at cultural institutions including
Jazz at Lincoln Center, Asia Society,
Apollo Theater, Plaza Hotel,
New York Wine and Food Festival
and Wave Hill.
In fact it was the Bronx horticultural
gem on the west side of the
Bronx that was the fi rst exclusive
partner that Great Performances
signed, back in 1992, said a spokeswoman,
who added the company
was founded in 1980 by its current
CEO Liz Neumark.
The company is the food provider
to many borough institutions
including Montefi ore Medical,
Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Wildlife
Conservation Society (the Bronx
Zoo’s operator), Fieldston School
and Riverdale Country Day School,
a company spokeswoman stated.
Neumark said, in a statement,
that she loves the entrepreneurial
spirit in the Mott Haven community,
and that the building, a former
factory, recalls the early manufacturing
roots of the city.
“Exploring the nooks and crannies
of the streets, meeting my future
neighbors and fi nding new
places to grab a bite to eat, contribute
to my enormous sense of anticipation,”
said Neumark. “This will
be a nurturing home where we can
contribute to the neighborhood
while benefi tting from a great
workforce and collaboration with
other businesses.”
The company has 147 employees
who call our borough home,
and plans to expand its work force
with an additional 55 hirings. It
will reach out to local employment
preparing non-profi t organizations
to fi ll some of the positions,
it stated.
Additionally, the company also
provides educational programming
through The Sylvia Center,
a non-profi t that teaches families
about the importance of nutrition
and encourages healthy eating, especially
for youth.
The center and its community
kitchen will also move to the
borough in July or August along
with Great Performances, said the
spokeswoman.
The space they will be leasing
in the newly renovated Bruckner
Building is centrally located near
several major highways, affording
the company an opportunity to service
a larger clientele base.
“The location is terrifi c from a
distribution standpoint,” said the
company spokeswoman “For us,
with clients throughout the tristate
area, it is actually much better
that where we are now in terms
of getting to our clients and getting
back.”
The new kitchen space is much
larger than what is currently available,
and it will occupy the entire
fi rst fl oor, said the spokeswoman.
“The kitchen staff in particular
are in Nirvana,” the spokeswoman
said.
The aesthetics of the building,
which has been extensively renovated,
itself was a selling point to
Great Performance’s management.
“One of the appeals of this building
is its classic old style. They
don’t build like this anymore,” said
the spokeswoman.
To learn more about the Sylvia
Center, visit www.sylviacenter.
org.
This is a view of some of the dishes Great Performances will soon be preparing in
the borough for its exclusive roster of clients.
Photo courtesy of Great Performances
/www.BXTimes.com
/www.sylviacenter