The site of the former Plitt Ford dealership in Wainscott where Whole Foods is opening
A Whole Foods Market pop-up shop will be coming to Wainscott, L.I. this summer, the East Hampton Star reported. Though there is no set opening date as of yet, the shop will be open between Memorial Day and Labor Day, according to the paper.
“It’s going to be a farmers’ market,” Michael Sinatra, a Whole Foods spokesperson, told the paper. “We’re very excited about being out there.” [more]
A rendering of the Whole Foods slated to rise in Gowanus, Brooklyn
Next week, the fate of Whole Foods Market’s first Brooklyn outpost will be largely decided, when two City Council panels vote on whether to grant the variances needed for the project to move forward, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The vacant Coignet building, at the corner of Third Avenue and 3rd Street in the Gowanus neighborhood, is the landmarked building at the center of the debate. The proposed store would wrap around the historic building, and its lot size would need to be decreased in order for construction to begin. [more]
242 Bedford Avenue
After battling out Joe Tabak to acquire a bankrupt Williamsburg development, Cayre family’s Midtown Equities closed on the property and will bring a Whole Foods to the site.
According to the New York Post, a partnership of Michael Cayre’s Midtown Equities, Bobby Cayre’s Aurora Capital and Alex Adjmi bought 242 Bedford Avenue, at North 4th Street, from Yahuda Backer for $23 million. [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]
From left: World-Wide Group President Victor Elmaleh and 646 11th AvenueWorld-Wide Group has sold the two-story 11th Avenue building that houses Nissan of Manhattan for $27.75 million, the International Business Times reported. The buyer is Brooklyn-based Girt Realty, LLC, whose address matches that of a Bay Ridge Toyota dealership.
The property, at 646 11th Avenue between 47th and 48th streets, is 50,207 square feet and is located along “Automobile Row,” where BMW and Mercedes have nearby showrooms. [more]
Whole Foods has won the support of a Community Board 6 panel for its planned Gowanus Canal superstore, despite calls from locals for it to downsize. According to the Brooklyn Paper, the proposal for a 56,000-square-foot store, 20,000-square-foot greenhouse and 250-space parking lot at Third Avenue and 3rd Street, is already scaled back from a previous, 68,000-square-foot plan that included 420 parking spaces. Nonetheless, the company still needs a zoning variance in order to build more than 10,000 square feet there. The proposal has already been delayed once for environmental cleanup after the company found toxins at the site. [more]
Two Midtown schools recently celebrated their topping off, developer World-Wide Group announced today. When completed, the schools, both located at 250 East 57th Street between Second and Third avenues, will be part of a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use project that will include 120,000 square feet of retail space and a 320-unit residential tower offering both condo units and rentals. The schools’ interior is expected to be complete by fall 2012. Also planned for the $700 million development is a 38,000-square foot Whole Foods, also expected to open fall 2012. TRD [more]
Whole Foods will open near the Gowanus Canal, tentatively in late 2012, the high-end grocery said today. Five years after announcing plans to build, the chain will open its site — the first in the borough — at Third Avenue and 3rd Street, according to the Brooklyn Paper. The new store will be about 52,000 square feet, 25 percent smaller than the original proposal, and will include 248 parking space with recharging stations for electric cars. Whole Foods will also build a 20,000-square-foot greenhouse on its roof and grow organic produce on site. [more]
Whole Foods has finished cleaning a contaminated site along the Gowanus
Canal near 3rd Street and Third Avenue, but the grocery chain still
won’t commit to building its first Brooklyn location there, the
Brooklyn Paper reported. Initially, the state Department of
Environmental Conservation had expected the clean-up to
be done in conjunction with the construction of the grocery
store, but Whole Foods backed out. John Bogdanski, the contractor in charge of the state clean-up, said that there were tax incentives for Whole Foods to build on the property, but the store remains non-committal. “Whole Foods is now reviewing the possibilities for a future location at this site,” said a Whole Foods spokesperson, Michael Sinatra. “While there is no timetable set, discussions are active and we remain hopeful to bring a store to this community in the near future.” [Brooklyn Paper]
It’s slow-going for remediation workers at the future site of a new Whole Foods supermarket in Gowanus, according to the Pardon Me for Asking blog. Although work to clear the site of toxic waste began only a few weeks ago, the site at 214 3rd Street has already been hit with two stop-work orders this month from the Department of Buildings, allegedly due to unsafe work conditions. The 2.15-acre plot, which sits near the recently-designated superfund site Gowanus Canal, is riddled with industrial waste, according to numerous environmental experts.
