On September 14, the Roslyn Landmark Society reported that the weatherboard installation on the Roslyn Grist Mill was complete. For the first time in more than 50 years, the outside of the building looks the way it did when it was built at the start of the 18th century. Over the same nine months, the storefronts along Old Northern Boulevard turned over. A bar closed, a frozen yogurt shop that had been there more than a decade closed, and in their place came a Queens Greek restaurant, a Cypriot-style froyo counter and a new kitchen in a former mezze spot. Roslyn's slowest project and its fastest change happened on the same street in the same year, and one local organization is tied to both.
The outside is finished. The doors and shutters are next.
The weatherboards are what you see from the road. The Society's September update says shutters and doors are still to come. It also says a media day is planned for mid-October, with details to be announced. As of today, October 4, no date has been published. A June update explained the order of the work. Custom trim had to go on before final measurements could be taken for the shutters and doors, and that trim was cut from reclaimed Southern Yellow Pine the Society describes as more than a century old.
The pace makes more sense with the full timeline:
- 1698: on April 2, the Town of Hempstead gave John Robeson permission to set up a grist mill at the Head of Hempstead Harbor. Long Island Press dates the mill to that year.
- 1715 to 1741: the range Newsday gives for when the surviving building went up. The sources disagree on this point, and the 1698 date refers to the permission for the first mill.
- 1920 to 1974: the mill operated as a tea house
- 1974: it closed to the public, and it has stayed closed since
- 1976: ownership transferred to Nassau County
- 2016: fundraising began
- November 2018: restoration work started
- July 25, 2023: phase one finished, with the building lowered onto a new foundation
- April 24, 2026: County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Comptroller Elaine Phillips delivered the second $1 million installment of a $2 million county capital award, meant for siding, windows, doors and the structural and accessibility upgrades needed to reopen
- September 14, 2026: the weatherboards were complete
Nassau County owns the mill, and the Landmark Society manages it. Long Island Press describes it as a Dutch-framed watermill at the head of Hempstead Harbor, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and believed to be the oldest surviving Dutch commercial structure in the United States. When the check was presented in April, co-president Howard Kroplick said the money would let the Society finish phase two and begin phase three. He said "it's going to look like the grist mill looked in the 1700s."
The plan for the building is a museum where schoolchildren learn how grain became flour and bread. In April, a Society officer told Long Island Press it would be ready "within the next year to 18 months." That works out to somewhere between spring and fall of 2027. It is an estimate, not a scheduled opening. For the craftsmanship behind the work, Preservation Long Island has named Chris Cole Company Inc. as construction manager and Jan Lewandoski of Restoration & Traditional Building as the timber specialist.
The block's 2026 address changes
The restoration has run for eight years. The boulevard's new tenants arrived within months. This table covers the 2026 changes along and near Old Northern Boulevard that are documented in local reporting.
| Address | Change | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1363 Old Northern Blvd. | TBar closed permanently | March 2026 |
| 1355 Old Northern Blvd. | Yolo Yogurt & Desserts closed, and Ilios Froyo later opened in the space | Yolo closed April 12, and Ilios was reported open by September 1 |
| 1512 Old Northern Blvd. | Griffin Kitchen & Bar opened in the former Limani Mezze | Expected mid-April, and serving by September |
| Bryant Plaza | Pilar Coffee Bar began serving | July 6 |
| 333 Warner Ave., Suite B | CorePower Yoga opened | July 18 |
| 1380 Old Northern Blvd. | Mythos Kitchen opened | Newsday review updated September 28 |
Yolo's owners said they were closing after more than a decade on the block. When TBar closed in March, its owner told Newsday that Roslyn was a difficult suburban market, and no new tenant had been announced at the time. Griffin's menu, as reported in April, draws from many cuisines. It includes buttermilk biscuits, mussels a la plancha, Wagyu meatballs, schnitzel with chicory-arugula salad, braised short ribs and dry-aged steaks. Pilar's reported menu is coffee, toast and salads.
The newcomers have family histories elsewhere
Newsday's Mythos review calls Roslyn "long a testing ground for city restaurant expansion." Two neighbors on the block show what that looks like. PopUp Bagels opened at 1388 Old Northern Boulevard on November 15, 2024, the Society announced, as the brand's first Long Island location. Mythos Kitchen, one storefront away, is the first Long Island location of a Flushing restaurant that has been open for 26 years.
Mythos still runs like a family business. Jimmy Theodoropoulos is continuing the restaurant his late father, Peter, founded. His mother, Athina, runs the Flushing original, and she bakes the bread at 6 a.m. every day and delivers it to Roslyn. Theodoropoulos recently moved from Bayside to Glenwood Landing. The $25 lunch menu comes with a salad, an entrée such as pastitio, moussaka or bifteki, a side, and baklava. The Queens-style steam table for takeout came along too. Newsday lists daily hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Ilios Froyo, a few doors down at 1355, is run by Andrew and Sophia Quintero. It is based on the frozen yogurt Sophia grew up eating in Cyprus. "It wasn't like a new trendy concept or anything," Andrew Quintero told Long Island Press. "It was something that instead of ice cream, you would just go get frozen yogurt." In September, it was reported open Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. Check before you go, since those hours were reported when the shop first opened.
The Landmark Society brought the new tenants together
The mill and the storefronts came together on September 24. The Roslyn Landmark Society, which manages the mill, and the Greater Roslyn Chamber of Commerce hosted the first Taste of Roslyn at Haute Durvo, presented by Rallye Motor Company. The event drew 225 guests and included a silent auction. Fourteen restaurants took part: Hendrick's, Okaru, Griffin, Alto Enoteca, 388, Sweet Harbor Coffee, Delicacies, Felice, Gold Coast Whisky Club, Uncle Giuseppe's, The Sinclair, Ilios Frozen Greek Yogurt, Mythos and Atlas New World Bistro.
Three of those fourteen were among this year's openings. The group whose main job is a building from the early 1700s hosted the first public dinner that included Griffin, Ilios and Mythos. Society co-president Jordan Fensterman and Chamber president Gwen Levy both spoke. The Society wrote that the two organizations "have worked side by side for years" on preserving Roslyn's history and supporting the businesses that give the village its character. The Society has said it plans to hold the event again.
October and November in Roslyn, by date
The Society's fall calendar also connects the boulevard's history to its present. Here are the published dates within a short drive of the mill:
- October 5: The costume swap shop opens in Bryant Library's Children's Room, during Children's Room hours.
- October 6, 6 to 7:30 p.m.: "Pumpkins and Pastels," an autumn art program for grades K through 5 at Bryant Library.
- October 8, 6 to 7:30 p.m.: The Landmark Society hosts Preservation Long Island curators Lauren Brincat and Steven Baltsas for "Wood and Water: Furniture on Long Island, 1660–1860." It is free, at Bryant Public Library, 2 Papermill Road.
- October 8, 8 p.m.: Dangerous Blonde, a Blondie tribute, at My Father's Place, 1221 Old Northern Blvd.
- October 10, 11, 17 and 24: At Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor, a Dance Visions NY sculpture-and-movement workshop, a Tiffany curator's talk by Franklin Perrell, Terry Cavanagh's tour of Tiffany flowers, and Super Family Saturday.
- Mid-October: The Grist Mill media day. The date has not been announced.
- October 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Friends of Cedarmere's Writing Day Retreat with Long Island Poets at Cedarmere Estate, 225 Bryant Ave. Christina M. Rau and Stefanie Maura lead it, and the $85 fee includes lunch and materials.
- November 7: Storybook Studio at the museum, with storytime and artmaking for children ages 4 to 7 and a parent or caregiver.
- November 8: Last day of "Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist of the Gilded Age," which shows more than 130 of the museum's Tiffany oil and watercolor paintings along with decorative works.
- November 21: "NYC Glam: The 60s–80s" opens and runs through March 7, 2027.
The October 8 furniture talk covers 1660 to 1860, and the mill's surviving frame falls inside that span. The mill's new weatherboards and the new tenants at 1355, 1380 and 1512 are all on Old Northern Boulevard. For more on the village's other historic sites, see our guide to Roslyn's landmarks and the Roslyn neighborhood page.
At Batul Morbi, we follow Old Northern Boulevard the way our Roslyn clients do, one storefront and one restoration milestone at a time. If you own a home near the village and want to know how this year's changes on the block affect your property's value, we'll walk you through it. Request a Home Valuation and we'll prepare a review specific to your street.
