From left: James Famularo of NYCRS and 125 Fulton Street
[Updated July 25, 2012: The New York Times reported that the forthcoming store is owned by Randy Narod, not Helmer Toro, but will use the same recipes and ingredients and bring Toro on as a consultant.] It looks like the best known baker of the city’s most beloved form of carbohydrate has returned almost as quickly as it departed earlier this year. A company called H&H Bagels signed a lease this month for 1,800 square feet at 125 Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan, according to lease information published in The Real Deal‘s deal section. James Famularo of NYCRS represented H&H in the transaction, but could not immediately comment on it.
Further, Grub Street reported that plans were filed with the Department of Buildings last week to convert the space into a new bagel store. Bread Factory Cafe last occupied the storefront, between Nassau and William streets.
Grub Street said that because Bread Factory Cafe did its baking on the premises, and the required infrastructure is already in place, it appears likely that the H&H Bagels that signed the lease is, in fact, the same one that closed its two stores — on the Upper West Side and Far West Side — in the last year. Especially since H&H’s owner, Helmer Toro, said he has been hoping to reopen ever since those outlets shuttered. [Grub Street]
