An adored Upper West Side bakery will close for good later this month after a quarter of a century in business, the owner announced Tuesday.
Judith Norell, who opened Silver Moon Bakery at 2740 Broadway in November 2000, will shutter the eatery March 23 amid an ongoing dispute with the landlord.
Norell said she and her business partner, Georgia Stamoulis, have decided against fighting on after Broadside Realty, a Westchester-based real estate firm, sued them for allegedly owing more than $200,000 in rent and refusing to vacate the corner storefront at West 105th Street once their lease expired.
“We just got tired,” she said.
The bittersweet decision to close came after Broadside Realty filed the eviction paperwork in Manhattan state Supreme Court in January. According to court documents, Silver Moon Bakery and Broadside Realty had entered into a lease agreement that began in August 2000 and lasted 10 years. It was most recently extended at a monthly rate of $13,261 in 2017 for an additional seven years, expiring May 31, 2024, Crain’s reported. Norell said she last paid rent in July, and she claims that Broadside President Michael Rose refused to accept it in August or negotiate a new lease. Attempts to reach Rose were unsuccessful by press time.
She may be giving up the brick-and-mortar storefront, but Norell said she’s not giving up her love of baking entirely and will still do so at home as well as offer online classes, as she did during the pandemic.
It’s unclear what Broadside has in store for the building, whether the company intends to redevelop or demolish it, or if it plans to replace the bakery with a new tenant.
An attorney representing Broadside in the ongoing lawsuit, Andrew Sinzheimer of Long Island-based law firm Horing Welikson Rosen & Digrugilliers, did not return a request for comment.
