Welland Tribune e-edition

Zappi’s makes way for large development

Restaurant’s new location to have more local flavour, says owner

RAY SPITERI — With files from Paul Forsyth Ray Spiteri is a St. Catharines-based reporter for the Niagara Falls Review. Reach him via email: raymond.spiteri@niagaradailies.com

The large hotel and residential development approved for the southwest corner of Dunn Street and Stanley Avenue will lead to popular restaurant Zappi’s Pizza and Pasta finding a new home.

Owner Al Zappitelli, who has a lease at 6663 Stanley Ave. until 2025, said he purchased a 0.6hectare property on nearby McLeod Road, near Alex Avenue and across from Ailanthus Avenue, a few years ago “in preparation for something like this.”

“We’ve got drawings done. We’re permit ready — mechanical, electrical, structural, everything is done, so we really enjoy this (new) location a lot,” he said.

“We had that ready for one day when we have to move out of (the current location at 6663 Stanley Ave.).”

Zappitelli said the business is “secure” at its current location for “another three or four years,” while the new plan for the property takes shape. He said Zappi’s will move once the building starts.

“This company has great plans and all that, but you’ve got to realize, there’s probably 30 zoned plans out there right now,” he said.

“The company has a great reputation of building, but Niagara Falls has a great reputation of getting zoning in place and speculating to build, so we’ll see it one day at a time.”

During its Tuesday night meeting, city council approved a zoning bylaw amendment to permit a 30-storey development consisting of a four-storey podium with a 26-storey hotel tower with 300 guest rooms and two 26-storey residential towers with 583 residential units at the southwest corner of Dunn Street and Stanley Avenue. The mixed-use project is proposed for 6663, 6671 and 6683 Stanley Ave. and 5640 and 5582 Dunn St.

The applicant, Stanley JV Inc. (Kyle Bittman) also proposes ancillary restaurant and retail uses to the hotel.

The lands are now occupied by detached dwellings, a two- to three-storey hotel, Zappi’s and associated parking.

Zappi’s has a long history in Niagara Falls.

A half-century ago, in 1971, Al’s parents Tony and Connie Zappitelli opened the first Zappi’s as a takeout shop on Dunn Street at Drummond Road.

His parents bought what is today the Casa Mia Ristorante in Stamford Centre, moved Zappi’s to what is now Mick and Angelo’s on Lundy’s Lane, then bought the Napoli restaurant on Stanley Avenue, and expanded to restaurant locations in Welland and Ridgeway.

In 1986, they sold their restaurant empire and Tony became a developer.

Zappitelli, who grew up working in his parents’ restaurant kitchens, said locals and tourists alike continually approached his parents to tell them how much they missed the food and the memories they had eating at Zappi’s. That, plus the potential he saw in what would become the booming Fallsview tourist district, led Zappitelli to revive the name when he opened Zappi’s Pizza and Pasta at 6663 Stanley Ave. in 2002.

Zappitelli said currently his restaurant has a 50-50 mix of local and tourist clientele.

He said the hope for the new property, which is just about a block from Stanley Avenue, is to create a more “true family, local location.”

“We’ve always priced ourselves as a local restaurant, and it’s paid off,” said Zappitelli, adding the new location will offer gathering facilities, more of an enclosed patio, and a separate ice-cream shop.

“It will be a destination restaurant — their own local restaurant. I even want bocce ball courts outside.”

He said he looks forward to growing more of the local market.

“I love tourism, I really do, and they’re wonderful people, but having a 50-50 market like this, it’s nice to be in a community. You can do things for the community, with the community –—that’s what I look forward to the most.”

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2021-09-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://wellandtribune.pressreader.com/article/281552293992308

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