Planning hears request to allow supermarket in new build in Gravesend

Rendering of 2300 Cropsey Avenue, currently under construction. Image credit: NYC CPC.

The densely residential area lacks many commercial spaces, including supermarkets. On March 16, 2022, the Planning Commission heard an application that would allow the addition of a supermarket to a new 23-story tower currently under construction at 2300 Cropsey Avenue in Gravesend, Brooklyn.

The new 23-story mixed-use tower can be built as of right for residential and community uses. The building will have 154 units, as well as a parking garage, and a charter school will operate from part of the community facilities space on the second floor. There is approximately 35,000 square feet of ground floor space that can currently be used as community space that applicants would like to use as a supermarket, which will require a commercial overlay to the current zoning to allow the supermarket to operate within this space.

The plaintiffs, represented by Sheldon Lobel, PC, noted that the residential area in which the building was located lacked many commercial overlays, resulting in a dense residential area with limited commercial options, including supermarkets and grocery stores. Plaintiffs also pointed out that Cropsey Avenue is a wide avenue better suited to commercial traffic.

According to the applicant, there have been preliminary discussions with several different grocery stores about the space, but no store or grocery chain has committed to opening a supermarket in the space.

Brooklyn Community Board 11 and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso issued favorable terms for the bid. Community Council 11 requested that a traffic study be carried out twelve months after the development, that no loading or unloading take place on the street and that deliveries be coordinated so as not to impact the arrival and departure of students from neighboring schools.

During the public hearing, Commissioner Anna Hayes Levin asked about loading and delivery plans and the impact on schools. Mr. Lobel confirmed that a traffic study will be carried out after the fit-out and that delivery trucks will be able to access the parking area in the basement through a curb to allow deliveries inside and outside. outside the street. The charter school’s opening hours don’t seem to conflict with typical supermarket delivery times.

No member of the public testified. The Planning Commission will vote on this request at a later date.

By: Speedwell Pink (Veronica is a CityLaw Fellow and a graduate of New York Law School, Class of 2018.)

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