Downtown rebound in White Plains - Westfair Communications

Franchise partner James Bitzonis at Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar in White Plains.

James Bitzonis suspects the historic bank building newly leased by his company in downtown White Plains would have come with a higher rent five years ago. His Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar franchise might have been bidding against upscale restaurants for the prime location at the center of the city”™s downtown renaissance.

The recession, though, has brought a shift in growth in the downtown restaurant scene in White Plains. While more upscale eateries have struggled or closed in the vicinity of City Center ”“ including the bankrupt Peniche Tapas Restaurant and the closed Via Quadronno and Antipasti Italian restaurants ”“ moderately priced franchise restaurants have opened or plan to open there in 2011.

Three of the nation”™s fastest-growing franchises ”“ Buffalo Wild Wings, Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Chipotle Mexican Grill ”“ could be Main Street neighbors later this year.

Mixing it up on Main

At 240 Main St., Virginia-based Five Guys Inc. expects to open its hamburger shop in late March, said Brian vonSchmid, leasing director at Cappelli Enterprises Inc. in Valhalla. The suburban Washington, D.C., company has opened about 700 restaurants in the U.S. The Cappelli company owns the 4,000-square-foot Main Street building that adjoins another Cappelli property, the City Center retail and entertainment complex, which developer Louis Cappelli has put on the market for sale.

At 250 Main St., Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. will open a 2,200-square-foot restaurant in the former A&P building, said developer Anthony J. Rotonde. The construction is part of the $7 million first phase of Rotonde”™s Metropolitan Plaza redevelopment project that was recently approved by the White Plains Common Council (see related story on page 1). Based in Denver, Colo., the Chipotle company has 1,023 restaurants nationwide and expected high single-digit sales growth in 2010.

At 264 Main St., Anthony”™s Coal Fired Pizza, an expanding South Florida-based restaurant chain, opened its first New York location last fall. The restaurant anchors a row of small retail stores renovated in 2010 at the start of the Metropolitan Plaza redevelopment.

A Florida-based burger franchise, Cheeburger Cheeburger, is expected to open at the end of this month at 84-86 Mamaroneck Ave., said Bonnie Silverman, president of Silverman Realty Group Inc., the building”™s landlord.

Silverman said her office has seen “very strong” interest from prospective downtown retail tenants. “We get calls all the time,” she said. ”˜Most are food tenants. Food seems to be the story in downtown White Plains.”

Buffalo Wild Wings, one of the nation”™s fastest-growing franchises, recently leased this historic bank building on the corner of Mamaroneck Avenue and Main Street in White Plains.

Cornering the market

Nearby, the lagging City Center retail complex also stands to be revived by the opening this month of a 59,000-square-foot ShopRite supermarket. Occupying the former Filene”™s Basement space on the third floor of the approximately 386,000-square-foot center, it is the largest ShopRite store in Westchester.

“It”™s a good time to be a lessee,” Bitzonis said at the end of busy weekday lunch hour in the 263-seat sports bar and grill that opened in late November in the Home Savings Bank building at the corner of Mamaroneck Avenue and Main Street. Bitzonis, president and CEO of Four M Capital L.L.C. in Valhalla, a Buffalo Wild Wings regional franchisee, ended his five-year search for a White Plains location when Zanaro”™s Italian Restaurant vacated the converted 8,000-square-foot bank in May 2010. Four M Capital signed a 20-year lease with the City Center landlord and opened after a challenging 3 Â½-month build-out.

“The location is tremendous,” said Bitzonis, whose company since 2005 has opened nine Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants in metropolitan New York and Connecticut, including ones in New Rochelle and Port Chester, and has contracted to open 21 more in the next seven years.

“I”™ve been looking for corners. They”™re very difficult to lease.” Banks and pharmacies typically outbid other tenants for those spaces, he said. In White Plains, upscale eateries too might have been favored for the space before the economic downturn.

Now, though, “Nobody”™s doing upscale,” said Bitzonis. “Not at all.” The high-end chain steakhouses ”“ one of which, BLT Steak, operates on Main Street in Cappelli”™s Ritz-Carlton Westchester ”“ “all took 15 percent to 20 percent hits this last year” in sales, said Bitzonis. “It”™s a tough environment for white tablecloth.”

In that environment, Cappelli has leased the former Via Quadronno space in the Bar Building at 199 Main St. to a more moderately priced Italian restaurant, Serafina. The Serafina Restaurant Group, with seven eateries in New York, Long Island and Sao Paolo, Brazil, is expected to open there by mid-February, said vonSchmid.

Bitzonis said combined sales in 2010 at his company”™s Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants were up about 8 percent from the previous year. In White Plains, “This store has been doing great,” he said. “It got a tremendous reception.” Bitzonis has set his sights next on the Nassau County and Manhattan markets.

He welcomed the expected arrival of Five Guys Burgers and other franchises in White Plains. “I”™m in favor of more options,” Bitzonis said. “I think it brings more people downtown.”