Matzo-Making Institution Moving

"After the 1980s, you got this continual increase of property values and rents, and it just never stopped or went down again," said Clayton Patterson, a local preservationist. "I think it's tragic. What we're getting now is kind of boring and mundane."

Alan Dell, co-owner of Katz's, said he has no plans to unload the nearly 120-year-old deli. But he acknowledged an outrageous offer -- "stupid money" -- could change his mind. "As my father said, 'Money can make a blind man see.' "

As for Streit's, "we haven't found a place yet, but we want to stay close to our base in New York City," said Gross, adding that Streit's already has warehouses in New Jersey from which the matzo is shipped.

The factory doesn't appear to have changed that much from a half-century ago; a photograph shows a group of rabbis in white coats supervising production to make sure the matzo was kosher. Streit's, with about 40 percent of the U.S. matzo market, has tens of millions of dollars in annual sales.

Customers can still walk up and buy matzo from the Streit's factory, but the retail business has slowed since the 1960s.

"With the rejuvenation of the neighborhood, a different type of person is living there. It's not an ethnic Jewish neighborhood anymore," Gross said, "and the need to be here isn't what it was."

Associated Press staff writer Adam Goldman contributed to this report.