Rendering of Gowanus Whole Foods (credit: Brownstoner)
The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals unanimously approved a variance for Whole Foods Market to build its long-awaited store in Gowanus, the first Whole Foods for the borough. Both the company and local supporters say they hope the market will provide economic growth for the Brooklyn neighborhood — an underdeveloped neighborhood not far from a Superfund site. [more]
The prospective Whole Foods site in Gowanus (credit: Brownstoner.com)
A coalition of Gowanus-based artists and factory owners is urging the city to reject a plan by Whole Foods to open a 58,000-square-foot store in the neighborhood, on a site at 3rd Street and Third Avenue that’s currently zoned for only 10,000 square feet of commercial space, the Brooklyn Paper reported.
The project, which is set to go before the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals in February for final approval, has been attracting criticism from locals, who argue that the retailer’s presence in the neighborhood would not only bring a greater degree of traffic, but also set off a high-end development boom and increase rental rates for the area. [more]
Toll Brothers’ planned residential tower on Dumbo’s Water Street cleared the first phase of the public review process when a Community Board 2 committee approved the project’s design in an 8-3 vote last night. Toll Brothers’ plans call for 67 market-rate apartments and 86 underground parking spaces. Current zoning in the district allows for up to 12-story buildings and does not have the 20 percent affordable housing requirement that other areas of Brooklyn have, so the steel and gray concrete project at 205 Water Street glided through the vote easily. “We loved the gritty nature of this industrial area, and that was our inspiration,” said Navid Maqami of Greenberg Farrow, which designed the project. Toll Brothers, which recently abandoned its long-planned Gowanus Canal development after it garnered a Superfund designation from the Environmental Protection Agency, will now need to win approval from the full community board before an April 6 vote by the Landmarks Commission. [Brooklyn Paper] [more]
City Council member Brad Lander has launched an interactive map tracking stalled construction sites in his district, which comprises portions of southwestern Brooklyn, including Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Gowanus and Windsor Terrace, according to Brownstoner. The map includes demarcations for vacant development sites, existing building conversions with stop-work orders, stalled construction sites and those vacant buildings that are in so-called “derelict condition.” The survey found that a total of 39 sites had applied for demolition or construction permits, before halting progress for an extended period of time. The Real Deal’s 2010 Data Book, now available for purchase, also includes a list of stalled construction sites in New York City. TRD
After saying last week that it had canceled plans to open a store on Third Avenue in Gowanus, Whole Foods now says it is “actively working on plans for a store at the Gowanus site,” the Brooklyn Paper reported. The project has been delayed for several years as a result of the recession and because pollutants were found at the site. The company made its announcement about abandoning the Gowanus project on the day the public comment period ended for a federal proposal to label the canal a toxic Superfund site. [more]
Whole Foods has canceled plans to open a market on Third Avenue and 3rd Street near the Gowanus Canal, which would have been its first Brooklyn location, the Brooklyn Paper reported. A Whole Foods spokesperson said the Gowanus land would probably be sold but that the company still hopes to open a location elsewhere in Brooklyn. Pollutants found at the Gowanus site had slowed construction, and local residents had also criticized the store’s plans to include a 420-space parking lot. [more]
