Cafe Jonah to Close Early Next Year

West Village restaurant Cafe Jonah will close up shop early in 2016 after the property owner declined to extend the business’ lease, according to media reports.

Owner Jenny Levison wrote in an e-mail that she has been looking for the past year for a site to take the cafe once the lease ends at the end of February, but hasn’t found a space to her liking, Tomorrow’s News Today says.

Tomorrow’s News Today speculates the property owner is looking to sell the site to developers who already own a nearby parcel.

Last month, Patch reported that JLB Partners had paid roughly $30 million for a 3 acre lot adjacent to Cafe Jonah called 99 West Paces. Developers are likely to transform the site into a mixed-use development featuring street-level retail, though it’s not yet clear whether the Cafe Jonah property could become a part of the plan.