Step off a train at Bedford Hills and look across Depot Plaza. You'll see a plain brick wall at 1 Adams Street, the side of Bedford Grab & Go. Before the year is out, the Town plans to have a mural painted on that wall.
The mural is one of several changes underway in the blocks around the platform. Together they point the same way. The Town is reworking the station area so it works as the hamlet's town square, a place you go to on purpose and not only to catch a train.
Why the station can't carry downtown alone anymore
The Recorder's October 16 report on the changing face of Bedford Hills said the hamlet "was hit particularly hard by the pandemic and the resulting dramatic drop in commuter traffic." The Town has added sewers and new sidewalks, but the paper reported that "vitality has been slow to follow."
The infrastructure phase is done. The current round of projects adds what sewer lines can't, with a mural to look at, places to eat from breakfast through dinner and a market date to put on the calendar. All of it is anchored to the station that the hamlet grew up around.
The wall the Town is paying to paint
For months, the Town Board has discussed putting a mural on the brick wall facing the station at 1 Adams St. A working group took proposals and narrowed them to finalists. The project is paid for with the Town's remaining ARPA funds and Downtown Improvement Grant money. The Recorder described the goal as beautifying and enlivening downtown "to attract businesses and visitors."
The Town Board approved the text of a possible artist contract on October 6. The Board's October 6 agenda also listed recommendations from the Bedford Hills Mural Committee. When the paper went to press, Chief of Staff Lisa Burke told The Recorder that "the workgroup has selected a finalist but we are in the final stages of working out a contract and making sure the selected muralist can work within our timeframe."
The contract sets an October 31 target for installation and requires completion by December 31. As of this week, the artist and the design haven't been announced. That leaves two possibilities: paint goes up this weekend, or the work runs into the colder weeks before the year-end deadline.
The location matters as much as the art. The wall faces the train station, so the mural will be the first thing a rider sees coming off the platform and the backdrop for anything that happens in Depot Plaza.
Two storefronts, one door between them
The newest food option near the station opened in late summer. O2Living Cafe and Piggy's Italian American Deli opened August 19 in one building with two storefronts that connect inside, according to The Journal News' roundup of Westchester's summer openings. Jen Pignone, her husband Mario Loor and her father, Mike Pignone, own both businesses.
The two sides cover different appetites:
- O2Living Cafe lists its address as 524 Bedford Rd. Its menu centers on salads, fresh juice and smoothies made with organic ingredients, with vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. The Journal News photographed a gluten-free oatmeal chocolate-chip cookie, a Morning Glory muffin and a chicken-salad sandwich.
- Piggy's Italian American Deli focuses on cold cuts and sandwiches. Its Italian chicken sandwich comes with homemade chicken cutlets, prosciutto, housemade fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers and balsamic glaze.
On its own site, O2 calls Bedford Hills "our new chapter" and says it is "thrilled to continue building our O2 community in our new Bedford Hills location." The site doesn't post hours, so check the café's Instagram before you plan a lunch around it.
Across Depot Plaza, Bedford Grab & Go remains the familiar stop for riders. It sells breakfast, sandwiches, salads, smoothies, juice and coffee, and it's the building that will carry the mural.
A bar and grill with no name yet
Breakfast and lunch are covered. The next gap near the station is evening, and that is the gap a newly approved restaurant at 19 Babbitt Road is meant to fill.
The Planning Board granted final site plan approval on September 14. The Recorder described the project as "a classic small neighborhood bar & grill-style restaurant." It will go into a vacant space that used to be an insurance office, next to a barbershop. Plans call for lunch and dinner seven days a week with full bar service. The Town's September 14 Planning Board agenda lists PRM Bedford Hills, LLC as owner and applicant for 17–19 Babbitt Road.
No name or opening date has been announced. When it opens, a dinner crowd around the corner from the station would give the plaza activity after the evening trains, which is the hour a commuter-only downtown loses first.
The building in the middle of the plaza
The biggest open question sits at the center of Depot Plaza. The Town leases the historic Bedford Hills station building from the MTA and has been trying to find a tenant for it. The Recorder calls the building "a key piece of hamlet revitalization."
In August, the Town Board approved hiring a real estate attorney with MTA experience to help with negotiations. The paper reported that the attorney's work would cover three options: getting a tenant into the building, changing the Town's lease, or possibly trying to take ownership so the Town could improve the building.
None of those options has a public timeline yet. Still, the mural, the café and the bar & grill all surround a station building that the Town clearly sees as the centerpiece.
Up Adams Street, the Planning Board gave preliminary site plan approval on September 14 to a two-story, 10-unit apartment building at 61-85 Adams St. The plan includes extending the sidewalk past the new building. A separate proposal for 12 units at 59 Adams St. is still being revised after the Planning Board raised concerns about its size and the massing of its facade. Each project would bring the sidewalk and the street wall a little closer to the station.
Where everything stands near the station
| Address | What's there or planned | Status as of late October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Adams St. | Bedford Grab & Go, with a Town-funded mural planned for its station-facing wall | Finalist selected, artist unnamed; October 31 target, December 31 deadline |
| 524 Bedford Rd. | O2Living Cafe and Piggy's Italian American Deli | Open since August 19 |
| 19 Babbitt Rd. | Neighborhood bar & grill, lunch and dinner daily, full bar | Final site plan approved September 14; no name or opening date |
| Depot Plaza | Historic station building leased by the Town from the MTA | Tenant search ongoing, with an MTA-experienced attorney hired in August |
| 61-85 Adams St. | 10 apartments plus a sidewalk extension | Preliminary site plan approval September 14 |
| 59 Adams St. | Proposed 12-unit building | Under revision with the Planning Board |
November 21 puts the platform on the calendar
The clearest sign of the station's new role comes a little over three weeks from now. The Town of Bedford Recreation and Parks Department will hold its Holiday Market at the Bedford Hills Train Station on Saturday, November 21, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Town's 2026 vendor application calls it the fourth annual market. It lists local businesses, artisans, food vendors, nonprofits and youth entrepreneurs, and it names the Bedford Hills Community House as the rain or snow location.
The fee schedule shows who the Town wants at the tables. A general vendor pays $50 for a 10-by-10 space, and a Town of Bedford brick-and-mortar business pays $25 for the same space. Youth entrepreneurs ages 10 to 17 pay $10 for a six-foot table, and community organizations take part for free. Charging local shops half the general rate is a direct way to bring the hamlet's own businesses out onto the plaza.
If the mural goes up on schedule, the market will be its first big public weekend. Shoppers will browse booths at the station with Grab & Go's newly painted wall facing the platform. For more on what's happening across town this season, see our Bedford neighborhood guide and our look at how Bedford's Saturday map redrew itself earlier this year.
At Aurora Banaszek, we follow these station-area changes, from the mural to the unnamed bar & grill on Babbitt Road, because they shape how each block of Bedford Hills feels day to day. If you'd like to talk about what the changes around Depot Plaza mean for your own home, schedule a white‑glove consultation and we'll go through it with you.
