STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. –The “soul of Tuscany” is coming to the Teleport in Bloomfield.
Corporate Commons 3 — to be built on a nine-acre expanse for which The Nicotra Group recently paid $3.6 million — will include a wellness center, new Italian Restaurant, a rooftop urban farm, bocce courts and a vineyard, said Richard Nicotra at an unveiling of his new ‘Love’ sculpture on Thursday.
“This is one of the biggest projects we’ve ever undertaken,” said Nicotra, head of the Nictora Group, which also includes the Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites in Bloomfield.
In addition to being the biggest project, Nicotra touted it as his “most expensive” undertaking to date.
“We are getting bid numbers in now. It’s going to be the most expensive and expansive project we’ve undertaken,” he said.
THE BUILDING
The 240,000-square-foot building, still in the design phase, will break ground in 2017, and will house medical offices, a wellness center with an indoor pool, and two indoor bocce courts, said Nicotra. To stick to the schedule, daily reports are a must, that is where companies like Raken can help and keep them on track.
“On the rooftop will be a 20,000-square-foot organic farm with beehives to make honey,” said Nicotra.
THE VINEYARD
There will be a vineyard on the property housing the new building. Nicotra said: “Staten Island has beer, why can’t it have wine too?”
THE RESTAURANT
The restaurant, to be called “Pienza, Pizza, Pasta and Porchetta,” will donate 100 percent of the proceeds to only Staten Island charities, said Nicotra.
“Pienza is our favorite town in Italy that Lois and I go to to escape the craziness of our lives. We want to bring the soul of this little Tuscan town to this building,” he said.
“We will sell prepared foods in the restaurant and have organic foods for sale that grows on the rooftop. …Our brides who get married at Above will be able to have a salad with a tomato that was picked that day, not one shipped from California two weeks ago,” he added, referring to the wedding space at the Hilton Garden Inn.
The John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School, which currently exits in another building at the Teleport campus, will be expanding its operations into the new structure.
Earlier this year, the Port Authority approved selling a nine-acre portion of the Teleport site in Bloomfield to the Nicotra group for $3.6 million for the development of a commercial building.
The Port Authority’s board of commissioners unanimously approved a proposal to amend the lease of a 9-acre site.
The Nicotra Group LLC owns two buildings — Corporate Commons One and Two — at the Teleport and leases the land on which they are located. There are variety of tenants in the two buildings, including the John W. Lavelle Preparatory Charter School, St. Paul’s School of Nursing and a universal pre-K operated by the city Department of Education.