After years of patiently waiting, the residents of New Rochelle have been presented with two ambitious plans to restore their Main Street Armory for public use. The proposals were presented at the August 7, 2012 City Council meeting. .One plan was proposed by the United Veterans Memorial and Patriotic Society and the Save Our Armory Committee along with the New Rochelle Opera. The other plan was presented by Good Profits, which is interested in sustainability development.
The Good Profits plan’s founder, Michael Blakely, emphasized his vision to use regional food in the proposed two restaurants and a series of vendor stalls for local produce. To accommodate temporary exhibits and performances, a glass and steel enclosure would be built on the front the Armory. One person on their committee was a famous chef, Jeremiah Tower, who described how he had surveyed New Rochelle and was optimistic about the project’s success in the City. However, a news item traces the experience of Chef Tower in Berkeley, California. He opened a Stars restaurant in l984 and it was an “instant success,” and became a top grossing restaurant. Tower opened other Stars restaurants in California locations, all of which failed. By l999 the original restaurant also failed and were closed. A less expensive restaurant opened at the site under a different owner.
The other plan’s details were given by the Save Our Armory Committee which now includes The United Veterans Memorial and Patriotic Association, and the New Rochelle Opera. This proposal included a theater complex, two restaurants, and a local history museum. Council Ivar Hyden cited the potential for use as an arts center and described his efforts in saving the Armory’s historic murals. Ron Tocci, Peter Parente and John D’Alois presented specific aspects of the proposal.
Proponents of both plans stated costs were approximations and would not be clarified further until one plan was granted a MOU (Memorandum of Agreement) status by City Council in October. A few days after the City Council meeting Lorraine Pierce, a resident, said Tower had said he “walked through New Rochelle and felt the footprint was favorable for a nice restaurant. However in the the past few years in New Rochelle several good restaurants have come to the city and failed, including the highly touted Bella Bella which left a tax debt to the New York State Tax Commission.” Parente had this to say about their Save Our Armory proposal. He felt it was l00% for the community and a give-back to them. Composed of several uses: a restaurant, banquet hall, veteran facilities and hall, and an educational gallery along with a performing arts center. “This is a humongous asset for children and adults with God given talents that would otherwise go unrecognized.” He felt their proposal was very unique and not just a performing arts center, restaurants and a dozen places to buy vegetables. He termed this European Market “interesting but not compelling.” Summing up he said, their proposal was he only one that was l00% compliant with the deed to the Armory. Further he emphasized they were not in it for profit but to allow for a “give-back” to the community using professionals.
In the August 17, 2012 issue of Soundview Rising
Jeremiah Tower unSustainable,Mr DiNapoli-your table is ready
This city is now making a big deal about sustainability with a building that thay had no interest in for over a decade. That is until a group working in secret with the city administration behind the scenes since january was able to put together their plan for their own good profit,not the publics, and orchestrate their own version of lets make a deal. They found the front man living in mexico,dusted him off and now try to pull him out from under the shadow of famous chefs like Wolfgang Puck and Mario Batali.According to news reports found by a simple search.(be careful of the wikipedia entries, they are being edited as we speak to clean it up.)His “family” money gets cut off as he squanders it looking for the lost city of Atlantis,now penniless he takes a job as a chef. Steps in a few piles of luck business takes off but it is UNSUSTAINABLE (as in that’s whatthe city is looking for in the armory. Unable to manage his business he loses virtually everything. A feeble attempt to franchise what’s left of his name also fails on a worldwide level. Here’s some comment posted after a story in a blog called “squid ink”
“Fear not SF Friends, J. Tower is not terribly well thought of in Merida either. He’s screwed people here out of plenty of money including one old woman’s life savings. The only people here who have anything to do with him fall into two categories: those who are unaware of his despicable, checkered past or people who’s own lives are so meaningless that they graft onto anyone even remotely famous, hoping it will make them special, if only by association. By the way, he is such a phony that even the home shown here, as his, is not.”
“JEREMIAH NIGHTMARE (As He was known by His LITTLE PEOPLE in the kitchen).
or from the LA Times
“I’m surprised he can remember anything through that Veuve Clicquot-induced haze,” said New York-based restaurant consultant Clark Wolf…”
from the S F Gate (San Francisco Chronicle)
“But like so many of Tower’s former colleagues, Keller says Tower can be “abusive and insensitive.” And he doesn’t care much whether he leaves bridges to his past intact. “He has an arrogance about him in personal relationships and places. Once he’s done it, he’s done it.”
This is not the man for New Rochelle,this project does not give back to the city. Comptroller DiNapoli just laced into the MTA and Apple for not playing fair regarding public property in Grand Central.Just like they are doing here in New Rochelle.One group (Towers) gets to discuss the armory for 6 months before the rfp goes out.This insider access is by their own admission.It may be legal but that don’t make it right.It’s like insider trading it’s only bad if you get caught.