Stand at the corner of Purchase Street and Purdy Avenue this week and you can see three stages of downtown Rye's next decade at once. Behind you is 12 Purdy, finished in 2022, with Saigon Table and Sunshine Coffee Roasters on the ground floor. Across the street is 11-15 Purdy, a construction site where work started again in September after a long pause. On the corner is the low row at 2-8 Purdy and 84-86 Purchase, still open for business. A developer bought it in January and wants to tear it down.
That third building is the one the city stopped. Most of the café openings and closings on Purchase Street this fall connect back to this one short block, so here's what changed at each address.
A downtown with more coffee counters than it had in July
The busiest change this fall is coffee. maman opened at 64 Purchase Street on July 23. In early October, RéUnion Bakery & Coffee soft-opened at 42 Purchase Street, inside a former TD Bank building that owner James Kim's family has owned for decades. The Rye Record reports it is approved to seat 84, which makes it downtown's largest café. The old walk-in safe is now the restrooms. Pastry chef Alexis Grea bakes in a kitchen customers can see into, and the beans are roasted in a glass-walled room at the other end of the building.
The same Rye Record story counts the competition within a few blocks:
- maman, 64 Purchase Street
- Sunshine Coffee Roasters, 12 Purdy Avenue
- Winfield Street Coffee
- The Granola Bar
- Le Pain Quotidien
- Starbucks
One café closed in the middle of all this. La Petite Bretagne, the creperie at 3 Purdy Avenue, shut in late September, a little short of its first anniversary. Its owner told the Rye Record the shop had been breaking even, but with bigger competitors arriving, it wasn't worth keeping open. The original La Petite Bretagne in Mamaroneck is still open.
Asked about being back in Rye, Kim told the Rye Record, "So expensive, but so nice." High rents, more coffee shops and a few short blocks are driving everything else on this list.
The block, address by address
Here is what has changed on Purdy Avenue and the nearby stretch of Purchase Street, based on Rye Record reporting from October 2026.
| Address | What was there | What's happening now |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Purdy Ave. | Built new in 2022 | Six apartments over three storefronts. Saigon Table and Sunshine Coffee Roasters opened in 2024 |
| 11-15 Purdy Ave. | The Town Dock and other businesses | Demolished last December. Work restarted in September on eight two-bedroom apartments over shops |
| 3 Purdy Ave. | La Petite Bretagne | Closed in late September |
| 4 Purdy Ave. | Su Misura, tailor since 2000 | Moving to 43 Theodore Fremd Ave. |
| 8 Purdy Ave. | Aly & Joshua | Closed after 22 months. Still sells online |
| 84-86 Purchase St. | Sarza, Verizon, apartments above | Part of the corner sold in January |
| 27 Purchase St. | Gentlemen's Grooming Lounge | Framebridge opened Sept. 12 |
The 11-15 Purdy site shows how slowly these projects can move. The Town Dock closed in June 2024 after 27 years. The developer, MM Real Estate Partners, won a zoning variance that September for eight two-bedroom apartments over storefronts, plus eight indoor parking spaces. The buildings came down last December, and the crew found groundwater on the site. According to building inspector Guy Carpenito, quoted in the Rye Record, the developer stopped work for months to redesign the building without a basement and get the new plan approved. In July, the developer asked the city to extend its site plan approval.
Framebridge at 27 Purchase is the clearest new arrival. It's a national framing company with close to five dozen stores, and its gallery wall already has Rye pieces, including a felt Rye Beach pennant and a watercolor of City Hall and the library.
The corner that's waiting
In January, the owner of 2-8 Purdy and the building next door at 84-86 Purchase sold both for $5 million to a company called 84-86 Purchase Street LLC. The plan is to renovate 84-86 Purchase and tear down 2-8 Purdy for a new mixed-use building. Plans filed with the Rye Planning Commission show three ground-floor shops and five two-bedroom apartments with an elevator. They would replace six one-bedroom units that the developer says don't meet current accessibility codes.
Su Misura isn't waiting to see how it turns out. The tailor shop has been at 4 Purdy since 2000, and the Rye Record reports it has leased a larger second-floor space nearby at 43 Theodore Fremd Avenue, with room for wedding-season work and original designs. If you have alterations underway, call ahead to confirm which location to visit.
For now, the corner project is on hold. It hasn't been before a city board since April.
What the pause actually covers
On June 8, 2026, the Rye City Council voted 5 to 2 to adopt Local Law No. 3 of 2026, a six-month moratorium on certain development in and around the downtown business district. It doesn't stop every downtown project. The law text says it applies to applications before the Building Department, Planning Commission, Board of Appeals or Board of Architectural Review that propose:
- Demolishing more than 300 square feet of floor area, or adding more than 10 percent to a building's floor area, in the B-2 district or an adjoining B-1 district.
- Six or more multifamily units, anywhere the law applies.
Emergency repairs are exempt, and so is anything connected to Osborn Home. Property owners can ask the Council for a waiver. The six months count from the day the law took effect, which came after the June 8 vote, so the pause runs into December at the earliest. The Council can extend it by resolution for up to 180 more days. The city's moratorium page has the documents. This is general information and not legal advice, so if you own downtown property, check your own situation with an attorney.
Why now
The Rye Record reports that Rye hasn't revised its master plan in more than 40 years. The moratorium gives the city time to write the rules before more downtown buildings change. The first public workshop for the comprehensive plan was held October 14. The Rye Record reported more than 130 residents took part. An earlier schedule aimed to finish the plan in fall 2027.
Separately from the master plan, the city scheduled Downtown Rye Design Week for October 26 to 28 at the Rye Free Reading Room, with evening design labs on October 26 and 28 where residents could review concepts with the consultant, Yard & Company. It grew out of a 2025 recommendation from the city's Central Business District Development Review Committee. The committee found current zoning generally fits downtown's character and scale, but said the city needs clearer guidance on building size, architectural details and how new buildings sit on the street. Mayor Josh Nathan told the Rye Record the work reflects "our commitment to preserve the character of our downtown while supporting the kind of progress that enhances a robust downtown environment." After Design Week, the consultant is set to refine its recommendations before they go to the Council.
Look at 12 Purdy for a preview of what those guidelines will shape. It's one finished building with apartments over shops, and its ground floor brought downtown a Vietnamese restaurant and one of the cafés RéUnion now competes with.
Also on the way, and on the November calendar
Around the corner, The Peningo Club, an American bistro at 22 Elm Street, was expected to open by the end of the year when the Rye Record reported it in September.
Some November dates within a short drive of downtown:
- Nov. 7: Pumpkin Smash at Rye Nature Center, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., free.
- Nov. 11: The Rye Free Reading Room's Ninth Annual Spelling Bee for Veterans Day. The same afternoon, the Nature Center's 47 for 47 Acres Fall Festival runs 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at 873 Boston Post Road, $47 per family.
- Nov. 14: The Great Leaf Hunt Celebration at the Nature Center, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., free.
- Nov. 28: Rye Recreation's Turkey Run and Paws Walk. Check-in opens at 8 a.m., the Paws Walk starts at 9, the one-mile fun run at 9:30, and the 3.1- and 5.2-mile races at 10. The early-bird fee ends Nov. 24. The Nature Center's Turkey Hike is that afternoon, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., $15 per family.
The Turkey Run is a good chance to stop by RéUnion on Purchase Street afterward. You'll pass the fenced site at 11-15 Purdy, still the only one of the three Purdy projects actually being built, on the way.
If you're curious how the Purdy Avenue projects and the city's downtown review might affect your own block or a property you own, Totally Westchester is following both and is happy to walk you through what we're seeing. Start Your Westchester Move with a conversation, even if your move is just around the corner.