Eugenio’s Italian gelato and coffee shop will reopen in a new location a few doors down and across the street on Broadway when spring arrives.

The café’s move from 419 to 458 Broadway — the former site of a Subway shop and, most recently, the short-lived Boca Viva café — is an effort to downsize the business and adapt to the current economy, owner Eugene Bizzarro said Sunday.

He blamed rising rents on Broadway as the reason many business owners have packed up and moved off the main drag — or gone under altogether — in recent months. His original monthly rent, $2,500, has nearly doubled since he opened the café in 2003, Bizzarro added.

"It kind of makes sense to downsize a little bit. You see a lot of businesses going out on Broadway because the rents have gone sky high,” he said.

The new space is about 700 square feet smaller, although cosmetic renovations are planned to make it look like the same old Eugenio’s, Bizzarro said.

An accessible bathroom for customers and the possibility of building an outdoor patio are favorable changes over the current location.

A reopening is planned for April or May. Call 691-6000 for more information.