The Pentagon, on Erie Blvd, has called all people with reservations for Restaurant Week and announced it is closing. Another empty store front to line deserted Erie Blvd. There are rumors of it reopening under new ownership but missing Restaurant Week is big loss for any Schenectady County eatery. Another in a long line of Downtown business that have folded and the second on that site.

Hate to see any business close in schenectady.

Just remember that I posted a while back that 'most' downtown businesses are hanging on by a thread!
Perhaps that isn't the case with the Pentagon. But it certainly is a reality for 'most'!

REALLY!!

This is really a positive development. They need more surface parking for all the high dreck jobs not moving onto Erie Boulevard.

Maybe that's where Dolce Vita will be located.....just a thought....

But, this is a bad time of year for resturants anyway,  unpredictable .

Nah, they'll incorporate this into the circle now instead of Adult World that they tried to push out, you know, because a circle is really needed right there on a main drag strip.

skimming the Plex? laundry being done?

In Fridays Gazette note 2 stories.   1 on the Pentagon closing and disclosing all the related negative baggage about Mr.Popolizio.   1 on the open house promotion by the City for Sunday.   A great way(?) to promote the city.   Bring up all the tax issues and the burned out/demolished property and all the negatives surrounding that tragedy.   It only serves to point out the lack of resolve on the part of the City Gov't to rectify these tax delinquencies.   Does not put the best face towards prospective buyers.   How will the Dept. heads/employees who don't live in the city, and will be representing the city in this venture, respond to any questions posed to them in regard to why do they chose to not live here if the opportunities are so bright?

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Erie Blvd. eatery shuts down
Owner insists Pentagon to reopen despite tax issues
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

Frank Popolizio claims he needs a break from the grind and a martini.
    After working 90-hour work weeks, the 65-year-old restaurateur said he needs some time off from the business. And that’s why he shut down the Pentagon 1978 after Valentine’s Day, about a month after the two-year anniversary of the restaurant’s opening.
    “It’s just too many hours,” he said Thursday.
    But city records and court documents tell a different story. Popolizio was more than $31,000 in arrears in local taxes on the restaurant for 2010, 2011 and the first quarter of 2012.
    The property also has tax liens that date back to 2001, according to the city’s tax department. Those liens were sold to American Tax Funding, which was pushing to foreclose on the property until Popolizio declared Chapter 13 bankruptcy in July 2010.
    Still, Popolizio insists the Pentagon will be back in business shortly. He said he’s secured a new tenant to take over the operation and that it shouldn’t remain shuttered very long.
    “It’s going to happen very, very soon,” he said. “Right now, I’m looking to lease it.”
    Popolizio has a long history with the small brick restaurant on lower Erie Boulevard. He helped run the business when it first opened as the Pentagon in 1978 and has owned the building since 2001.
    The business subsequently operated under a variety of other names. Most recently, the place was called Bambino’s before closing in 2007 and remaining vacant until Popolizio began refurbishing the interior in 2009.
    But before he could open the restaurant, the property was sent to a foreclosure auction. Popolizio convinced his bank to give him a chance with the business, however, and was finally able to get the doors open shortly before New Year’s Eve.
    Popolizio owns nearly two dozen properties in Niskayuna, Schenectady, Scotia and Rotterdam. He has faced a number of problems in recent years, ranging from property maintenance issues to code violations.
    In December 2010, fi re ripped through a rental property he owned on McClellan Street, killing a thirdfloor resident. The body of the man wasn’t found until the city began demolishing the burned-out structure nearly a month later, because of a mix-up between Popolizio and fi re officials over who lived in the building.
    Earlier this month, Popolizio was charged with 49 counts of cruelty to animals. State police investigators claim Popolizio and an Esperance woman operated an animal breeding facility in Otsego County, where dozens of malnourished dogs were seized last month. .....................>>>>........................>>>>.............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00905&AppName=1

Quoted from rampage

Nah, they'll incorporate this into the circle now instead of Adult World that they tried to push out, you know, because a circle is really needed right there on a main drag strip.

ROTFLMAO!! Now these idiots have another place for a "pocket park" and DVOR's underwater bike trail. Bring your bike-walk home. Keep hiring planners who are failed town DEM chairs.

On Thursday, Popolizio said the restaurant does good business and is at a great location. I just don't believe the statement or he would have been paying his bills. He has been getting away with this kind of behavior for a good many years, maybe it's time for him to retire.

Gee, is the "news" reported here, becoming fodder for the daily rag?  Convenient how it appears in print TWO days after it's released here.

Things that make you go hmmm..

and here comes Dolce Vita.... and the man in the white suit, tinkling the ivories....

just sayin"

Popolizio and Loren .. two peas in a pod, what a combination.

Quoted from 147

Gee, is the "news" reported here, becoming fodder for the daily rag?  Convenient how it appears in print TWO days after it's released here. Things that make you go hmmm..

They don't have my sources. Another instance where I scooped them. Can't wait for more letters about what a great guy the slumlord really is. Tell that to the fire victim of his death trap.

As of the Friday Gazette issue, the ad listing all the restaurants participating in restaurant week still has The Pentagon listed as 1 of the restaurants open.