New tenant takes over Bel Rio's space

Residents walking by the windows of what used to be the Bel Rio restaurant will instead, come January, see exercise bikes, monkey bars and cooking demonstrations.

Clay Fitness + Nutrition — already located below the former Monticello Road restaurant that was mired in noise-related controversy for months and whose owner disappeared — will expand into the Belmont restaurant space upstairs, according to the business owner and the building’s landlord.

Hyam Hosny, Clay Fitness’ owner, said she is scheduled to sign the lease with landlord Jeff Easter at 11 a.m. today.

“I expect that we’ll be signed before lunch tomorrow,” Hosny said Tuesday. “We’re excited to be able to offer more of what we’re doing. There’s clearly a demand.”

Bel Rio had been the subject of incessant noise complaints from its surrounding neighbors in Belmont because of its nighttime entertainment, eventually spurring the City Council to approve a stricter noise ordinance. Now, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., no restaurant or music hall in the city’s Neighborhood Commercial Corridors — one of which is part of Belmont where Bel Rio was located — can emit amplified sound louder than 55 decibels, as measured at a residential property boundary.

The restaurant received a fresh dose of attention after an undated sign was posted on its door during the summer, saying it would be closed for two weeks for vacation and kitchen renovations.

Bel Rio never reopened. Jim Baldi, the restaurant’s owner, was also accused of fraud in a lawsuit from a fellow restaurant investor, and Albemarle County police obtained a felony embezzlement warrant against him not long after the sign was posted on the restaurant’s door.

Easter said fellow Bel Rio investors Gareth Weldon and Dave Simpson reached an agreement so they are out of their lease payments. Easter said the agreement was reached about a week and a half ago.

Of the fitness and nutrition business, Easter said, “This has a lot less impact to the area.”

Baldi, a local accountant, kept financial books for several area businesses. Attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful, and Easter said he has not heard from him.

“No one’s really known what’s happened to Jim Baldi,” Easter said.

Cpl. Steve Wilkins of the county police department said Baldi’s whereabouts are still unknown and the investigation is ongoing.

Bel Rio has been quiet and empty for the last few months as Easter has searched for a new tenant. Hosny will partner with health coach Tracey Webber to have exercise activities and cooking demonstrations and classes, the pair said in an interview Monday.

“It’s really about healthy eating and training,” Webber said.

Classes will be held upstairs and personal training sessions will take place in Clay Fitness’ existing space on the lower level.

Hosny, referring to nearby Belmont residents, said “there’s no doubt in my mind that they’re pleased” that the former restaurant space will become home to a quieter business that will be open late infrequently.

“It fits in very quietly but it offers a lot,” Easter said.