With 20 shops and counting,
Crazy Mocha Coffee Company is making plans to open three new area locations.
This month—adding to its burgeoning Downtown presence—Crazy Mocha will open a kiosk at 11 Stanwix St. Next up for the homegrown company are Northside and Cranberry locations. Helping to revitalize a high-profile Northside corner, Crazy Mocha owner Ken Zeff is finalizing construction and renovation designs for a 1,500-square-foot-shop at 2 East North Ave.
“The interesting thing is that it’s a reuse of a vacant space. With the library opening, the hospital right there and new houses being built, hopefully they’ll be energy and developmental growth, to create additional life across from where the Garden Theater used to be,” says Zeff, who is working with architect Jill Joyce and the
Central Northside Neighborhood Council to restore the property’s original windows. “It’s a great building. It will have 100% windows in the front and lights on at night, where for the last 15 years, it’s been boarded up. It gives us a good feeling as an independent coffee shop to be part of a neighborhood. There’s a lot of synergy and hope there.”
In August, Zeff will open a 1,700-square-foot shop with outdoor seating at the corner of Freedom and Haine School Rds. in Cranberry. “Unlike most suburban shopping centers, it’s surrounded by houses,” adds Zeff, who worked with Jared Imperatore of
Grant Street Associates to locate the space. “There’s a density. It’s a new neighborhood convenience center with a small diner, and not anchored by big box retailers.”
Zeff expects to hire 15 employees.
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Jennifer BaronSource: Ken Zeff, Crazy Mocha Coffee Company
Photograph copyright Brian Cohen