The owner of a longtime Upper East Side pizzeria is parting ways with the building after more than five decades in business, records show.
Italian eatery Don Filippo opened at 1133 Lexington Ave. in 1972, and it’s been a mainstay in the neighborhood ever since. Philip Arcara, who owns both the building and the pizzeria, took over the business in 1980, when he appears to have purchased the 4-story mixed-use building for an unclear amount. Arcara is now in contract to offload the property, which is occupied by the pizza joint on the ground floor and a duplex apartment above it, to a Florida-based limited liability company, according to a memorandum of contract that appeared in the city register Wednesday.
The property’s sale price was not immediately clear. It is also not clear if the business rights to Don Filippo were sold and if the pizzeria will continue or close down.
Constructed in the early 1900s, the building has an apparent market value of $3.3 million, records show. The five-bedroom duplex on the third and fourth floors was last rented in May for $6,250, according to StreetEasy.
Arcara, who declined to comment on the in-the-works deal, has tried at least twice before to sell the property between East 78th and 79th streets. He first entered into a contract with an affiliate of Midtown-based Macklowe Properties in 2021 and again three years later with Avdoo & Partners Development, also based in Midtown. Both deals were terminated after a short time for reasons that are unclear. Arcara also declined to comment on why.
His latest contract is with an entity named after the address. Benjamin Klapper, whose affiliation with any particular real estate firm or company is unknown, signed the paperwork.
Meanwhile, Shlomi Avdoo, founder and CEO of Avdoo & Partners Development, which terminated its own contract with Arcara in October, has plans for a project elsewhere on the Upper East Side. Avdoo submitted permits to the Department of Buildings last month to raze a quintet of mixed-use buildings, all 5 stories tall, at 1341-1347 Second Ave. and 242 E. 71st St., Crain’s reported.
