Pete
Praia is calling it a wrap for his downtown restaurant, Di Piero's Sicilan
Cucina.
The
upscale Italian restaurant at 518 E. Adams St., on the south side of the Old
Capitol Plaza, will close as of Dec. 28.
Praia has owned and operated two other Italian restaurants in addition to two pizzerias in the Springfield area over the years. Di Piero’s was located on South Dirksen Parkway prior to relocating downtown. Before that, Praia owned Palermo’s Sicilian Cucina on South Durkin Drive as well as a pizzeria called Luigi’s in Riverton that later expanded to Rochester. However, he said the downtown incarnation of Di Piero’s got off to a rocky start.
“We opened about three months before COVID hit, and we weren’t able to get any kind of help from all the grants because we didn’t have any sales data from 2019,” Praia said. “We’ve been struggling ever since. Our business was damaged early on.”
Praia
said that even when businesses were allowed to reopen later in 2020, the
pandemic had changed people’s habits.
“We’ve
been waiting for traffic to pick up downtown, but I don’t see any improvements.
And I don’t see our leaders doing much about it,” said Praia. “Everybody is
curious when something first opens, but the real test is about six months in. I
feel like everybody has forgotten about us… it’s like a ghost town where we
are.”
He
noted that Di Piero’s location on the Old Capitol Plaza means that offering
curbside service for carryout has never been an option and that some of his
older customers struggle with finding close parking.
Praia
also said that festivals and other events held downtown actually hurt his
business, rather than helping it.
“We
never look forward to the big events; it doesn’t help us. The bars do well, and
all the food trucks that park downtown,” he said. “But for us, the street
closures make it a struggle for our customers just to get to our place.”
While
Praia said he appreciates the historic character of his current building, he
plans to look for another location outside of downtown.
“It’s
a shame, because I really love the building we’re in. It has a lot of charm and
character,” he said. “But we’re actively looking for another location, and it
won’t be downtown.”
In
the meantime, Praia said he’s been in discussions with Lafore Lock Post 755
about working out of the kitchen at 2211 Old Jacksonville Road.
“We’re
hoping to do a couple of events with them, starting next month,” he said. “I’ve
told them I could handle their catering, which would also keep my overhead low.
So instead of (my next venture) being a freestanding building, it may end up
being a combined effort with the VFW.”
