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BeanRunner offers more than just a cup of joe

Mary Sue Iarocci

Dec-07-08, 07:00 PM

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Topics: Restaurants & Food

Ted Bitter grew up in Jamaica “in one of those houses where everyone gathered.”

“Every neighborhood has that place where the whole community comes together,” Bitter said. “My mom was a great cook and she loved to entertain.”

Bitter’s lifelong dream of creating a neighborhood hangout of his own was realized with the opening of BeanRunner Café, Peekskill’s new, trendy café in the artists’ district.

This is the first business venture for Bitter, whose day begins at 5 a.m. and ends close to midnight.

The café is in the newly restored landmark building, which previously housed the Peekskill Hairnet factory and Gardineer’s Hardware and Stove Shop. Built in 1850, the building originally had a blacksmith and wagon repair shop.

The building was restored by lifelong Peekskill resident Drew Claxton, an avid preservationist and Bitter’s partner.

Claxton, who was on the city’s historic preservation board and is now on the City Council, bought the building in 2002.

“I just love old buildings and this is a building that has a good soul,” Claxton said. “I like to see old buildings come back to life and this was a building that in most people’s eye would have become a parking lot.”

It was a gut-rehab, Claxton said, and “if you really looked at the building you could see the brickwork underneath. You could see that there was some real character to the building.”

Claxton worked with an engineer, Mike Domenelli, to restore the building as well as Mount Kisco-based architect Jerry Hager.

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