Pair of diner sites may show some life this year

It’s been a tale of two landmark diners in Riverdale for the past 20 months. One that has many in the community asking what’s next for the places on Kingsbridge Avenue and Johnson Avenue. Places they used to get some coffee, eggs and conversation.

Known as The Riverdale Diner at 3657 Kingsbridge Ave. and the Blue Bay Diner (Restaurant) at 3533 Johnson Ave., the two locations may show some life in 2024. The Riverdale Diner has been closed since a kitchen fire in April 2022. The Blue Bay, which had been around for 50 years, closed in December 2022 after it lost its lease when the landlord increased the rent.

The Blue Bay has made the most progress. Several permits and notices affixed to the doors explain the reason for the workers inside former diner with the papered over windows. They show an entity called Johnson Diner Inc. has working permits for interior alterations and renovations and new plumbing and natural gas hook-ups.

There is also a separate notice of an application for a liquor license filed with the New York State Liquor Authority. According to the authority’s website, the license application was filed June 16, 2023 and is still pending.

As for the property at the 53-year-old Riverdale Diner, a memorandum of contract of sale was filed with the New York City Department of Finance on July 20, 2023. While there are no details of the sale price, the filing states MADDD Kingsbridge LLC is the purchaser and Snowcap LLC is the seller.

A memorandum of contract, or memorandum of sales contract, is a legally binding agreement that is part of a real estate sales contract, according to Property Shark.

The filing shows the contract was entered into on July 5 for three lots owned by Snowcap, which shows George Kaperonis as the signatory for Snowcap. He and his wife, Anna were the owners of Riverdale Diner.

The purchaser is represented by Jorge Madruga, who heads the real estate development and management company MADDD Equities on Long Island.

The whole lot is assessed by the city at $1.15 million.

Madruga did not return a phone call seeking comment on the future of the site for this story.

According to city property records, MADDD Kingsbridge has registered the property for water and sewer billing. A smoke detector compliance affidavit was signed by the new owner and the seller on July 5.