By Bill Parry
A high-end, Manhattan-based baker has decided it’s time to make his doughnuts in Queens. The Doughnut Plant will open a factory and retail facility in the Falchi Building, at 31-00 47th Ave. in Long Island City, in December.
“We have so many customers in Queens that we wanted to supplement our presence there,” owner Mark Isreal said. “I’m really excited about what’s going on at the Falchi Building. They’re bringing in a lot of food companies and it’s creating quite a buzz.”
Jamestown Properties, owners of the popular Chelsea Market, bought the former Gimbels department store warehouse for $80 million in 2012. Falchi is already 90 percent occupied with high-profile tenants, such as Juice Press, the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, the ride-sharing app Lyft and the tech innovating non-profit Coalition for Queens.
“Our goal with the Falchi Building was to create a concourse that features makers that have a front-facing retail space with a manufacturing component – the addition of the Doughnut Plant was a perfect fit,” Jamestown President Michael Phillips said. “We believe this model attracts a diverse mix of tenants from food purveyors to office and tech tenants, embodying the creativity in Long Island City and enhancing the environment of the neighborhood.”
Isreal signed a 10-year lease for the Doughnut Plant to occupy a nearly 8,500-square-foot cafe space on the first floor concourse. In addition to the production facility, there will be a full store with seating that will include an espresso bar.
Isreal started the Doughnut Plant in a Lower East Side tenement building in 1994 and did all the work himself for the first five years. The third-generation baker would make his doughnuts from his grandfather’s recipes all night long and deliver them to gourmet food purveyors such as Balducci’s and Dean & Deluca on his bicycle in the morning.
The bicycle became an essential tool in the company’s expansion.
“I ride that bike everywhere and it’s what helped me fall in love with Queens,” Isreal said. “I’d ride to the Indian restaurants on 74th Street in Jackson Heights and all the Mexican restaurants along Roosevelt Avenue. In fact, I new things and all the great food and specialty shops from so many different countries here in Queens.”
He believes his handcrafted, all natural doughnuts filled with housemade jams, creams and custards are best served fresh.
“This central location will help with delivery in Queens and Long Island,” Isreal said. “All the new companies that have moved into the Falchi Building as well as other buildings in the neighborhood, plus we have LaGuardia Community College right across the street, it’s an exciting place to be. We’re going to love it here.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
