Jack's Pizza In Bayside To Close Amid Dispute With Developer

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Jack's Pizza and Pasta has served cheese-laden slices and fare to mall-goers at the Bay Terrace Shopping Center for the past 50 years, but that will likely change next month.

After the pizzeria's lease expired in Sept. 2020, Cord Meyer Development Company, which owns the shopping center, did not renew the rental agreement.

Instead, the restaurant and the development company came to an agreement that Jack's could stay at the center through Jan. 15th, 2022, at which point it is slated to permanently close.

Both Cord Meyer and Jack's confirmed these details with Patch, but the entities don't see eye-to-eye on much else in what is seemingly a months-long business saga dating back to the early days of the pandemic.

Pandemic rent struggles

At the onset of the pandemic, Jack's was operating on a takeout-only basis four days a week, which took a toll on the business' finances.

"When COVID hit I spoke with the [Cord Meyer] office and everyone was saying the same thing: Do what you can," said Laura, whose parents Anna and Jack Sapienza opened the pizzeria in the early 1970s.

Laura told Patch that from March through Dec. of 2020 the pizzeria paid Cord Meyer "as much as we could" without issue. That changed in Jan. when Jack's rent check was returned; the 30-day eviction notice came next, she said.

Cord Meyer, however, told Patch in a statement that the decision to not renew Jack's lease came after the pizzeria "refused to meet its financial obligations. If a tenant refuses to meet agreed upon obligations, we need to focus on ensuring that the Bay Terrace remains a vibrant shopping center," the developer said.

Agreeing to extend Jack's lease through 2021 with "generous rent concessions" was an "acknowledgment of [the pizzeria's] long history," Cord Meyer said, adding that they believe their relationship with Jacks's "has been mischaracterized."

Laura refuted the developer's point about financial obligations, contending that the pizzeria had a plan to pay the developer back-rent, and that Cord Meyer themselves told her it was OK to pay what she could amid the pandemic.

"We were paying the rent and they were accepting it for ten months. If it was so unacceptable why did they accept it?" she questioned.

This query, however, is rhetorical for Laura, who told Patch that she believes the developer had ulterior motives in not renewing the pizzeria's lease.

Bringing another pizzeria to Bay Terrace

According to Laura, Cord Meyer is using Jack's rent payments as an "excuse" to bring in another pizzeria.

"Matt Whalen always had a pizzeria that he wanted to bring in called Rosa's Pizzeria from Maspeth," Laura told Patch, pointing at Cord Meyer's CEO.

When asked if there is a plan to bring Rosa's to the Bay Terrace Shopping Center, Cord Meyer said "we are not currently discussing prospective tenants." (A spokesperson for Cord Meyer also denied Laura's claim that Whalen is a "partner" in Rosa's.)

A person working at Rosa's told Patch that they are "not sure yet" about a plan to expand to Bayside, and hung up when asked if Whalen is a partner.

Laura said she is certain that a pizzeria will open at the center at some point ("have you ever been to a shopping center that didn't have a pizza place?") but that Jack's is looking beyond Bay Terrace for now.

"I'm working with a community member and we're looking to keep Jack's in the community," she said, adding "we belong here."