NY1
01/29/2010 08:16 PM
Au Bon Pain Opens In St. George Ferry Terminal
By: Amanda Farinacci
After years of struggling to find tenants to move into the recently-renovated Staten Island Ferry Terminal, a new Au Bon Pain restaurant opened on Friday. Borough Reporter Amanda Farinacci filed the following report.
With more than 20,000 square feet and 21 million commuters passing through its doors last year, the Staten Island Ferry Terminal would seem to be an easy place to attract retailers. But tough economic times have kept most of the dozen available retail spaces vacant since the terminal was renovated five years ago.
Yet the logjam broke on Friday, the terminal welcomed its newest tenant, Au Bon Pain.
"This 1,120-square-feet cafe is not only the first new retail tenant at the terminal in years, it's also Au Bon Pain's first outlet on Staten Island," said Seth Pinsky of the Economic Development Corporation.
The rush to open the new terminal meant some infrastructure work was not completed inside the retail space. The city's Economic Development Corporation took over in 2007, promising to finish the job.
But it wasn't until late last year that the storefronts were ready for tenants after the borough president's office paid for the final work. Au Bon Pain brings 35 new jobs to Staten Island, with 31 of them filled by residents.
"Today is a day that we all looked forward to, and it was said by many that it would never happen, but it's happening and it's here and we're moving forward," said Borough President James Molinaro.
The terminal has signed agreements with eight other tenants -- including a deli, pretzel shop, juice and ice cream shop and a Subway Sandwich shop -- to open in the next six months. The EDC is still looking for tenants to fill the last three spaces.
Local leaders had hoped mom-and-pop shops from Staten Island would move in but that has not happened.
"I guess the rents were still a little too high, or the costs for the utilities. However, it didn't work out, so this was the next best step," said Congressman Michael McMahon.
Ferry riders told NY1 that filling the retail space inside the terminal has been a long time coming, and they are happy to finally see some progress.
"There's a lot of business around here to be made, so it's good they got this Au Bon Pain," said resident Mike Parker. "All of this, this is good, I love this. This is good, it looks like Manhattan a little bit over here.
When all of the retail space is fully-rented, the EDC expects they will bring the city about $1.5 million a year.
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