DeFazio, Bombers land parcels get OK for sale

Bombers' patio no longer on city property.

Two local food-related businesses got good news at Thursday night's Troy City Council meeting when sales of two parcels of city land were approved without dissent.

The major piece of business was approval of Rocco DeFazio's request to purchase the former Vanilla Bean Bakery building on the same Little Italy block on which he has operated a pizzeria and grocery for decades. The other was clearing up some confusion over the use of a strip of city-owned property by Bombers Burrito Bar at King and Federal streets.

The current DeFazio's

In the DeFazio project, the longtime businessman and chief cheerleader-organizer of the Little Italy neighborhood had earlier said he wanted to turn the former bakery at 214-226 4th Street into a complex encompassing a pizzeria/restaurant and bar, cooking school, banquet space and retail store.

He also plans to add outdoor dining on the Hill Street side of the building, opposite the site of a weekly public market. Estimated cost for the entire project is in the $1.5 million-$2 million range. DeFazio said he would put his current property at 266 4th Street up for sale once the new project is completed.

Both properties were part of a bundle of parcels the council considered for blanket sale approval. The city had received only one bid for each.

The sale of the King Street strip to local lawyer and property owner Don Boyajian, who leases out the corner building to Bombers Burrito Bar, wasn't as straightforward. Federal agencies still are investigating the demolition of a building on the north side of Bombers, another Boyajian property.

When the burrito franchise -- which opened in June 2013 -- was constructed by sibling owners Tami Dzembo and Glen Young, outdoor seating under a canopy was included. However, that strip of land was owned by the city, not by Boyajian. They paid an initial "nominal fee" to use the property but have not paid any sort of rent or other payments, Corporation Counsel Ian Silverman said Thursday.

Before the sale was approved Thursday night, the council debated the measure on three fronts: (1.) whether the parcel should have been included in legal advertising with other properties that technically had different status; (2.) whether unbundling it from the other parcels and re-advertising it would allow a window for a speculator to step in to push up the price for an otherwise useless piece of property; (3.) whether the parcel should be sold off quickly to eliminate city liability for any injuries that might occur on the property. In the end, the liability argument won out.

Marker shows where new DeFazio complex would be built.

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