Staten Island development draws grocery chain

St. George, Staten Island will see a full-service supermarket enter what was becoming a food-desert this spring, the Staten Island Advance reported. Fine Fare Marketplace, a 60-store chain across the Tri-State area, is taking more than 10,000-square-feet on the ground level of  Leib Puretz’s the Pointe condominium, located at 155 Bay Street on the corner Victory Boulevard.

“Why are we so giddy about a supermarket?” Theo Dorian, president of the St. George Civic Association, asked. “Because we’ve been underserved in this area for so long, the opening of a supermarket is actually big news.”

Supermarket owner Mofeed Said said that is was BFC partners plan to develop a hotel, outlet mall and the world’s largest Ferris wheel in the neighborhood that caused him to select the location.

“The last couple of years, there’s been a lot of redevelopment and revitalization,” Said, said. The store will open in late March or early April. [SI Advance] —Christopher Cameron