Nonprofit plans affordable housing development near Essex Crossing
Avery Hall Investments finally closed on the Key Food grocery site at 120 5th Avenue in Park Slope, where it plans to build two residential towers holding 165 apartments and a new supermarket, sales records filed with city Tuesday show.
The closing price was $45.6 million and the seller was Hemsptead, NY-based Pick Quick Foods, a member of the Key Food cooperative.
Park Slope residents have subjected Avery Hall to a hearty amount of scrutiny and debate about the project for well over a year now. The developer first announced in 2015 that it would seek to buy the Key Food site and build a residential project. Soon after, community members organized to ask the city not to approve any project that did not include a large, affordable grocery store and affordable housing.
Avery Hall responded by promising residents a grocery store. The company plans to put out requests for proposals to select a grocery retailer for the site.
The apartment towers will also bring 41 units of affordable housing, with 16 reserved for “very low income” tenants, according to DNAinfo. The developers said in the fall they would need 421a to make those plans work, and expected to begin construction sometime in 2017.
A representative for Avery Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The grocery site is just the latest Brooklyn play for Avery Hall, which, along with partners, bought an office building at One Boerum Place from Brooklyn Law School in December, paying $76.5 million.
Those partners, Allegra Holdings and Aria Development Group, are currently developing condos with Avery Hall at 465 Pacific Street in Boerum Hill and 237 Carroll Street in Carroll Gardens.
(To see a selection of commercial sales in Boerum Hill in our database, click here)
