The owners of a popular Indian restaurant and catering business in Greenburgh expect to close Wednesday on their $2.3 million purchase of a 92-year-old, turreted red-brick landmark off Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers.
Jagdish and Monica Mitter, of Shree Balajee Corp., plan a $1 million renovation of the Polish Community Center at 92 Waverly Ave. Yonkers city officials said the Mitters will reopen it as the Castle Royale, a catering hall that could be operating by May.
Operating most recently as Polonaise Catering at the Polish Community Center, the property has been up for sale since at least 2012 after the center”™s board of directors was unable to find a working partner in the catering business. A spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last year said the church was interested in acquiring the building as a potential Mormon meetinghouse.
The new owners provide catering at several Westchester locations, with a client list that includes the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel and Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown. The family also operates the Royal Palace restaurant at 77 Knollwood Road in Greenburgh.
A chef, Jagdish Mitter opened his first Westchester restaurant, Royal India Palace, in Yonkers in 1992.  City officials said the Mitters will explore opening a restaurant in addition to their catering operation at the Polish Community Center. The Castle Royale is expected to provide more than 50 full-time equivalent jobs.
The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency at its January meeting approved a sales tax exemption on purchases of construction materials for the renovation. The amount of the exemption has not yet been calculated. The IDA board also authorized negotiation of a multiyear property tax abatement agreement, or PILOT, with the Castle Royale company.
“This is the outcome we hoped for,” said Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, who also chairs the city IDA board. “It stays on the tax rolls, continues to provide jobs and provides a needed service to the community.”
Opened in 1922, the Waverly Avenue building was the focus of community life for the city”™s once large Polish population.
“This iconic property is where people have had weddings, birthdays, and other special events for more than 90 years,” Spano said when announcing the deal. “It”™s good to know it will continue being a center of community life and celebrations for many years to come.”
