Well, after knowing that Carvel was planning on closing at the end of 2006 for over 7 months now, the Town Of Greenburgh seems to have taken interest. There's even an article in the NY Times, by reporter Erin Duggan who is one of few reporters nowadays actually covering issues that matter to us accurately. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/29wecarvel.html
Here are some photos of the dilipidated property. It definetly needs something, I would have liked to see Carvel maybe split the property (they do have a lot of property for just an ice cream store) and build a "retro" Carvel there. Note that I said Carvel.....the property was sold by the Thomas And Agnes Carvel Foundation, a formerly very active charity that funded a lot of childrens projects in Greenburgh. (Tom and Agnes were residents of Ardsley, and cared a lot about Central Ave) Now that both have died, the fund is run by people that don't have the same vision. Carvel Corp should step up to the plate, and build something that nods to the companies heritage there. It's BS that Focus Brands, the current corporate owner of the Carvel brand, says they couldn't do anything. Truth is, they could care less. They didn't want to do anything.
It's funny how the franchisee cited high taxes......and Supervisor Feiner is spending $15,000 of Greenbrugh tax money to "study" Central Ave. Coupled with the high taxes because of studys like that, and other Greenburgh extravagences such as a $20 million dollar new library in the internet age complete with a taxpayer funded cafe, and Greenburgh's ridiculous quanitity of regulations, it makes opening a business nearly impossible for someone just starting out or trying to keep their business alive.
Anothe side note for this building, this is the design that inspired Ray Croc (Founder of Mcdonalds) This building has so much heritage, yet I can almost guarantee it's going to be a yet another bland chain bank or pharmacy on this propery. Although I am hoping for a nice down to earth, affordable resturant or fun and useful retailer. And I hope Carvel is somehow incorporated into this new development.
Everybody claims they couldn't be the one to save Carvel....it's sad how the greed of a few people took another longstanding institution away from Hartsdale. Oh well, I guess that's the times we live in nowadays. I guess parent's don't take their kids out for ice cream anymore.
I'm going to miss the days where I could walk down to Barnes and Noble, browse through and pick up a good book, and then get a milkshake afterwards.
Thanks again to Erin Duggan and the NY Times for bringing what's happening in Hartsdale into the public eye. The Carvel article was great.
