There may not be a giant snowman on Canal Street this winter, but there might just be two-ingredient fruit slushies next spring. The owners of A&N Fruit Store, the corner store on Canal and Essex Streets in Lower Manhattan famous for their slushies, smoothies, and snowman, say their new landlord has offered to allow them to return next spring, after renovations on the building are completed.
"They said we can come back," Dong Wang told Hell Gate, smiling as he paused his work slicing the rind off a watermelon. The building at 23 Canal Street, in which A&N operates, was sold in February to TTC Investments VIII; Wang and his wife, Helen Chen, told Hell Gate last week that their fruit stand and other businesses in the building were being kicked out in October.
The couple told Hell Gate that a representative from Building Equity Management, the building's management company, stopped by Wednesday and told them the owner had a change of heart. (A representative from Building Equity Management declined to comment, and a request for comment from another representative was not immediately returned.) Asked whether A&N had received a new lease, Chen responded, "Not a lease, but they just told us we can stay here. We'll still finish in October, and then come back once they finish the renovations in springtime."
Adam Woodward, the principal of TTC Investments VII, told Hell Gate in an email that the store was "always meant to stay."
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