LEBANON — Four years ago, lack of adequate staffing forced husband-and-wife owners Joey and Cheryl Pellegrino to shutter their Italian deli and garden stand in Enfield, just a few years after the couple opened the store in 2018.

Now the business is set to open again, this time at the Lebanon Village Market as part of developer Recreo LLC’s ongoing project to build a food court in the complex at 2 Mascoma St.

“They’re a beloved local family business,” said Tim Sidore, of Recreo LLC. “We think they’re an ideal fit for downtown Lebanon.”

The garden center, which features rows of perennial and annual flowers, as well as hanging baskets and house plants, opened in the parking lot on the upper level of the Village Market in early May.

The deli and market are set to open “in a month or so,” Joey Pellegrino said in an interview at the site on Tuesday. The deli will offer a selection of Italian cheeses and meats such as prosciutto and mortadella as well as sandwiches like the “Bad Boy Roast Beef,” a sub stuffed with thinly sliced rare roast beef.

In addition to Italian provisions such as specialty sauces and pastas, Pellegrino’s market will also include standard grocery fare such as vegetables, milk, butter, cheese and eggs.

The interior also will have six tables for patrons who want to dine in and a “tropical garden” of house plants for purchase, said Joey Pellegrino.

The Pellegrino’s storefront was previously occupied by the Lebanon Village Marketplace, which reopened in 2005 after a two-year hiatus and then closed again in 2018. Since then, the closest grocery store has been the Price Chopper on the Miracle Mile, about a 6-minute drive from downtown Lebanon.

After closing the store in Enfield, the Pellegrinos relocated to Las Vegas where they opened several Amish supermarkets. In 2024, they sold the stores, which are still operational today, and made their way back to the Upper Valley.

Shortly after their return, they opened Amish Jam Jelly Honey House in the plaza with Panera off Route 12A in West Lebanon. The store sources products from Amish communities in Vermont and across the country.

“We have a big connection with the Amish,” said Joey Pellegrino, who added that the couple first started selling Amish products to markets while they were living in Florida some 25 years ago.

Later this summer, 11 or so other food stalls are planned to set up shop next to Pellegrino’s to fill out the food court, Sidore said in a phone interview.

Recreo LLC also has plans to build a 152-unit apartment complex next to the demolished fire station across from Colburn Park. The units would be studio apartments that would be available at market rate, Sidore said.

The Planning Board granted the developer site plan approval on July 11, 2022 for a phased development of the apartment complex. Recreo LLC then received an extension on July 8, 2024 when they had not yet applied for a building permit.

Now Recreo LLC has requested that the Lebanon Planning Board grant a second extension for the site plan, which would require the board to waive the regulation that a site plan can only receive one extension. Sidore cited high interest rates and material costs as reasons for the project’s delay.

In order to receive the extension, the developer would have to prove that there were circumstances beyond their control that prevented them from progressing the project, said the city’s Planning and Development director Nathan Reichert.

The board did not reach a decision regarding Recreo LLC’s request for an extension at its May 12 meeting. Discussion is scheduled to continue at a public hearing at a board meeting on July 14.

The food court, meanwhile, is slated to be completed by the end of 2025, “no ifs, ands or buts,” Sidore said.

Sidore declined to provide names of vendors, but he said that he is in conversation with soul food and Asian food businesses and “a number of different options.”

His hope is that the food court will help draw in residents to the apartment complex.

“If the city wants this type of housing project, they’ll choose to work with us,” he said.

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.