Dispute Over Snuffy's Closing After Lidl Opening Announced

SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ — A dispute over whether Snuffy's Pantagis Renaissance property has surfaced following a social media post made by the wedding venue on Wednesday. The township and Lidl grocery store both confirm the agreement to redevelop the property is in place, while Snuffy's says otherwise.

"We are not closing!! News is grossly misreported," the wedding venue and restaurant at 250 Park Ave. stated on its Facebook page.

Comments under the post show mixed emotions to this announcement where some people said they were told they could not book a wedding in 2020 because of the development or that the venue would be closed in 2020.

Despite Snuffy's claim, Scotch Plains officials and Lidl have confirmed an agreement is in place.

"Our legal department has confirmed that Lidl has a lease agreement with the consortium that owns the Suffy’s property," said Scotch Plains Mayor Al Smith.

"We are in the early stages of planning and approvals for this site and are working closely with the township as part of that process. It is too early to offer a specific timeline for this site. However, I can tell you we look forward to bringing Lidl’s award-winning shopping experience and low prices to Scotch Plains in the future," said a spokesman with Lidl.

The Scotch Plains Mayor and Council approved an introductory ordinance at Tuesday's meeting allowing a developer, Lidl — a growing grocery store chain in New Jersey — to move forward on construction on the site where Snuffy's Pantagis Renaissance wedding venue and restaurant at 250 Park Ave. (See Related: New Grocery Store, 51-Spot Park And Ride Coming To Scotch Plains)

Along with the grocery store, a 51-spot park and ride will also be constructed on the property.

The final adoption for this ordinance will be made in October. Lidl will then have to receive final site plan approval from the Planning Board after which Lidl will determine the construction timetable and therefore when the restaurant will be closing.

"If Snuffy's Pantagis Enterprises, Inc no longer has a land lease agreement with Lidl I'm sure we would have officially been made aware of it through official communication by the president of the corporation or the attorney for Lidl, not some social media post. We will continue to deal with the facts," said Tom Strowe with the Scotch Plains Redevelopment Committee.

The redevelopment process for Snuffy's property began as far back as June 2018 Snuffy's Pantagis Enterprises, Inc. executed a land lease agreement with Lidl US Operations, LLC that authorizes Lidl to work with the township on a redevelopment plan to construct a Lidl store on the Snuffy’s property, Strowe said.

The property was then investigated as an area in need of redevelopment.

"I know there have been some disagreements among Pantagis family members about proceeding with Lidl, but we verified that a majority vote of the Snuffy’s Pantagis Enterprises, Inc agreed to execute a land lease agreement with Lidl," Strowe said.

"The property was found to have met the criteria as an area in need of redevelopment by the Planning Board and was designated as an Area in Need of Redevelopment by the Township Council on Dec. 11, 2018. Following the designation, there is a 45-day appeal period. No one from Pantagis appealed the designation," Strowe continued.

Since then the Scotch Plains Downtown Redevelopment Committee has been in negotiations with Lidl and held two public meetings on Aug. 14, 2019 and Sept. 11, 2019 specifically to discuss the plan.

"...again no one from Pantagis attended or spoke at these meetings to challenge what we were working on," Strowe said.

Snuffy's owner Steven told Patch that they are "not in any position to comment. If we are ready to make a comment we will call back."

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