The kitchen at Nica’s will remain cramped for now: The popular East Rock market has put expansion plans on hold, to make nice with wary neighbors.
The owners of Nica’s Market have pulled an expansion proposal that was set to come before the city zoning board this week. The Sabino family had planned to expand the kitchen at its Italian market at 601 Orange St. in East Rock and add indoor and balcony seating on the second story. When they aired the plans to neighbors at a June 22 meeting, the Sabinos heard complaints about unfinished business, including delivery trucks creating dangerous traffic conditions.
“We withdrew our original application because we’re listening to our neighbors and the neighborhood,” said Rosanna Sabino, who runs Nica’s with her dad and brother. She said Nica’s intends to come up with a better plan that neighbors feel comfortable with.
“We’re going back to the drawing board,” she said.
Sabino, who’s 34, spoke between slicing meat and wrapping panini behind the deli counter Wednesday. She said her family’s main mission is to “decongest” the market, where narrow aisles and cramped kitchen quarters mean customers and workers are always struggling to find enough space to move in.
“It’s hard to operate under this kind of stress,” she said.
Nica’s expansion proposal came at a time of tightening competition in East Rock’s booming gourmet food industry. Orange Street will soon be home to three markets and a caf√©, all owned by former allies in the same Italian family network.
After the June 22 meeting in East Rock, the Sabinos’ attorney, Anthony Avallone, reached out to several neighbors who voiced objections, including East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar.
Lemar said Nica’s is a great neighborhood asset, but he’s concerned in particular about one “extraordinarily dangerous intersection” near the market. Large delivery trucks routinely pull up to the corner of Bishop and Orange Streets, blocking a bus lane, creating poor visibility and imperiling pedestrians, cyclists and cars, Lemar said.
“It would not surprise me if on any day of the year, someone got hit at that intersection,” he said. The problem is that trucks violate traffic laws and Nica’s fails to monitor them, he said.
Neighbors are worried that the problem will only get worse if Nica’s expands.
“Until they can accommodate increased deliveries to the store, I don’t feel that the community feels comfortable with Nica’s tripling their size,” said Lemar. He said he wants to make sure any expansion plans “would maintain and protect the residential character of that area.”
Site plans Avallone presented in June called for adding 4,500 square feet to the 3,024-square-foot building, by extending the kitchen area towards the back of the property and adding indoor and outdoor seating on the second floor.
The plans spurred some fear that Nica’s would become a restaurant in a residential area.
Wednesday, Sabino said people’s perception of the expansion was “overblown.” She said the family’s intent is merely to accommodate the existing customer base.
“We have no interest” in becoming a restaurant, she said.
“Negative 1 percent chance,” chimed in her brother, Tony Sabino (at left in photo with Rosanna). They said they already work 12-hour days and have no intention of staying open past 7 p.m.
Tony Sabino said he’s already started tackling the problem with the delivery trucks. He recently sent out a notice to all the delivery trucks, asking them to restrict their hours of delivery to 7 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. Most deliveries happen Tuesday to Thursday, he said.
Rosanna Sabino said she’s open to all solutions, including having the trucks unload on Humphrey Street instead, where there’s more room. She said Nica’s plans to hold a neighborhood meeting on the topic, so that the business and its neighbors can “come up with a plan together.”
“I don’t want to upset anyone,” she said. “I plan on being here a long time.”