Back in 2010 a reader posted on a Times Union blog:
Just spotted a new restaurant in Halfmoon on Rt. 9 on the west east side of the road called APROPOS. It’s in the building that used to house Romano’s, just to the north of the new building being prepped for Fred the Butcher. I was wondering if any of your readers have tried the place out. Would be nice to have a full service restaurant in that area again other than just the diner and fast food joints/pizza joints in the area.
I can’t find any contact info for the place, but according to the Saratoga Politics blog,it seems to be a private-ish restaurant/Internet café for the cult self-improvement organization NXIVM.
Anybody?
in 2011 The Saratogian published this:
Town OKs plan change for proposed Internet cafe
Five years ago the former Romano’s Restaurant, 1575 Route 9 received Planning Board approval as an Internet Cafe.
The business was named Apropos and was to be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to midnight. The parking lot has room for 90 cars.
However, the business never opened to the public.
When planning board members began seeing cars parked in the Route 9 lot at odd hours they questioned the owners whether the approved plans were being followed.
They suggested if the facility was not operating as an Internet cafe a request for a change of use be made.
The owners, Sara and Clare Bronfman and a third unnamed woman chose to seek the change of use.
The Bronfmans have made news in recent years through their alleged involvement with NXIVM, a self help group based in the Capital Region that some claim is a cult.
Consultant Keith Burke was hired by the Bronfman sisters to represent them at the April 11 Planning Board meeting. Burke told the board the owners sought to change the approved use from the cafe to a private meeting facility.
In answering a board member’s question Burke said the Bronfmans own the business through NXV Trust which he believes they control. Several board members’ questions directed to Burke seeking to determine the type of meetings to be held in the facility were blunted by board attorney Lyn Murphy.
“Right now they are in compliance with your code,” Murphy said. “You know what the business is. You don’t normally ask what goes on in the business. You don’t ask each group that rents the Elks Lodge out for an event what they’re are doing.”
The board approved the change with the stipulation there be no more than 90 persons in the Apropos facility at one time and there be no outside storage or activities.
Burke said the owners were never able to get the Internet cafe business operating to their satisfaction and decided to heed the board’s request for a change of use.
“They hope to get it up and running in the future,” he said.
Add Comment