Landlord Tells Town That D'Agostino Wants to Exit Chappaqua (UPDATE)

Stephen Nardozzi, the landlord for D'Agostino, confirmed to New Castle officials that the grocery store is seeking to leave Chappaqua.

A letter was sent by Nardozzi earlier this week to the town, according to Deputy Supervisor Elise Kessler Mottel, who said she found out about it Thursday.

Mottel explained that it's not Nardozzi looking for a new tenant, but rather D'Agostino wants to leave the space, located on 411 King St., by subletting to another tenant.

Previously critical of not getting a response to letters from the town, Mottel described Nardozzi's response as "a very nice letter," in which he said that he is sensitive to the town's concerns over the status of the site.

The news follows confirmation from a Walgreen's representative to the town to replace D'Agostino at its location.

Currently, D'Agostino's Chappaqua location is closed due to damage from Tropical Storm Irene, a customer service representative told Patch on Thursday. Officials in the department could not confirm what the status is for the store's future in Chappaqua.

On Friday, the Chappaqua location was no longer on the regular store location list on D'Agostino's corporate website. A Google cache of the website's history shows that the Chappaqua location was still listed on Aug. 28, when Google's search engine kept its most recent site archive. However, by Saturday, the Chappaqua location was restored to the page, but added below the company logo, as opposed to the list itself.

A call to the Chappaqua location was unsucessful, with a voice prompt stating the number "is temporarily unavailable."

Rumors of D'Agostino leaving Chappaqua have been circulating for a while. Last fall, Crain's New York Business reported that the grocery chain wanted to scale back its presence in Westchester County by departing from locations in Chappaqua, Cross River and Rye Brook. D'Agostino subsequently left Cross River, and the space by the DeCicco's grocery store chain. The Rye Brook location is still listed on the company's website.

The talk of D'Agostino leaving Chappaqua, which would leave the hamlet without a full-fledged grocery store, have drawn frustration from a number of residents, notably Debby Glickman, who is circulating an online petition calling for another grocery store to move into the site if D'Agostino leaves. Several businesses in downtown Chappaqua subsequently placed flyers that state "Choose Groceries" in their windows, which have written links to Glickman's petition, which now has more than 600 signatures.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the restoration of the Chappaqua location address, albeit in a different spot on the list page.