It was just a matter of time. Westside Coffee Shop, the Dominican lunch staple that has been at the corner of Lispenard and Church for 35 years, has closed. Yesterday was the last day, and they were still serving when I popped in around 2.

The owners said they will move the business to Ozone Park and opening this January. You can follow them here on Instagram.

The restaurant was a classic — though not the last of its kind in Tribeca. We still have the Square Diner, whose origins go back 100 years. Still, this is a loss. Someone comment and point us to a better plate of pernil, their marinated pork, and fried plantains.

The site — 35 or 31 Lispenard or 323 Church, depending who you ask — has been in the sights of a developer since 2018. Demolition plans were filed but never executed in 2020. Then the owner of the building, Peter Matera, died last September and the site was sold this past June for what looks like $1 million. If I am tracking the documents correctly, the developers are Urban Standard, a real estate investment company with its offices on Broadway and Barclay.

Matera also owned the building next door — 325 Church, the former site of Saluggi’s — but that will be protected by the historic district.

From the historic district designation report:

No. 35 LISPENARD STREET between Broadway & Church Street
This one-story, twenty-five-foot wide small commercial structure is located near the Church Street end of the block. An alteration executed in 1954-56 by Mac L. Reiser for Benjamin Hochman, demolished the two upper stories of a brick building previously occupied by merchants of cloaks and suits; the structure had been converted to accommodate a boarding house and later a ground-story saloon with storage and factory spaces above. The current facade, sheathed in marble, is the result of an alteration applied for in 1969 but not completed until 1991. During the 1960s, a retail store occupied the building; it was replaced by a restaurant.