BREAKING: Gowanus Whole Foods Confirmed!
After months and years of uncertainty (mostly relating to environmental issues), Whole Foods has officially decided to go ahead with its plans to build its first Brooklyn store at the corner of 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue in Gowanus. At 52,000 square feet, the new store will be about 25% smaller than the one initially…
After months and years of uncertainty (mostly relating to environmental issues), Whole Foods has officially decided to go ahead with its plans to build its first Brooklyn store at the corner of 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue in Gowanus. At 52,000 square feet, the new store will be about 25% smaller than the one initially spec’d for the site; it will also include a 40-foot public esplanade (presumably along the canal) and a 20,000-square-foot greenhouse on the roof. Here’s the emailing confirming it sent out a couple of hours ago by Mark Mobley of Whole Foods to Craig Hammerman, the District Manager of Community Board 6:
I am writing with some extremely positive news: Whole Foods Market is now officially moving forward with the development of our first ever Brooklyn store located on our property at 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street! We want to thank you and the entire community for your patience as we’ve worked to revise our plans and clean up the property. We’re also proud to have finalized a development plan and are confident that Whole Foods Market will be a terrific addition to the neighborhood.
While we will be happy to set up a meeting and/or provide you with more detailed information in the coming weeks about the proposed store and our plans, we wanted to share this good news and provide a brief overview of our intentions as soon as possible. Our commitment to Brooklyn and our desire to invest in the greater Gowanus community are stronger than ever, and as we hope you will see, our new development plan is extremely responsive to the surrounding neighborhood and its residents….
…Our property, which was formerly home to a number of auto repair shops, warehouses and other industrial uses, has now been fully cleaned and remediated under the strict guidelines of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s brownfield program and is ready to return to a positive, productive, job-creating and community service use.
Our planned new store will be approx. 52,000 square feet, which is about 25% smaller than the store we had previously proposed for this site. We believe this site plan – which continues to feature a 40 foot public esplanade for our neighbors to enjoy – will simply work better within the parameters of the property.
We have reduced the number of parking spaces on-site from 430 to 248, which eliminates our previous need for a separate parking structure and allows all of the parking to be at-grade in a surface parking lot. The store will feature parking for both energy efficient vehicles as well as specially designated recharging stations for electric powered vehicles. The lot will also include bike parking in front of the store and along the promenade. Whole Foods Market will also offer delivery for area residents.
With parking now no longer needed on the store roof either, we have been presented with the opportunity to include one of the most exciting and innovative features ever included in a Whole Foods Market: A 20,000 square foot greenhouse located on the roof of the store that will grow fresh, organic produce right on-site!
Rather than construct the store below-grade as previously proposed, we now plan to build it above-grade, which will require a variance from the Board of Standards and Appeals due to the physical hardships associated with site development (there is a high water table and, as you know, environmental cleanup requirements on the property). These factors have a large impact on the development costs that will be encountered on this site.
As always planned, the two-story, 19th century brick building situated at the property’s corner at Third Avenue and Third Street – which is not owned by Whole Foods Market – will remain in place. The Whole Foods Market will “jog” around the existing building at that corner and Whole Foods has committed to investing in improvements to the building that will include a new roof and exterior repairs.
Finally, you should know that our commitment to local hiring, community investment and the creation of high-quality Whole Foods Market jobs (with excellent benefits) remains unchanged. This new store will create approx. 350 new jobs – fully 70% of which are expected to be full-time positions – and we look forward to working with you and other local stakeholders to ensure that the surrounding community has full access to these new opportunities.
As we hope you can see, we are extremely excited about the opportunity to finally provide Brooklyn residents with convenient access to their own Whole Foods Market. We believe we have developed a plan that is responsive to the surrounding community and look forward to sharing additional details with you in the coming weeks. Thank you and I look forward to speaking with you soon.
Psyched?
Set Backs at Whole Foods Site [Brownstoner]
Signs Point to Whole Foods Brownfield Cleanup Starting [Brownstoner]
Nothing Doing at Whole Foods Site [Brownstoner]
Photo by Nathan Kensinger
It’s also absurd to think that Brooklyn with a population of 2.5 million people (larger than the cities of Houston or Phoenix or San Diego) would not have some big box stores like Whole Foods, Ikea and the like.
If you think that a place this large with this many residents is going to stay mom and pop forever is just plain delusional.
How about trying to accept the future of the world instead of constantly looking backwards? At least Whole Foods is trying to do some innovative, important things.
And the best part?? If you don’t like it, you DON’T need to shop there? There’s always your local fauxdega who are MORE than happy to sell you the same stuff that Whole Foods does for $1 more per item. And you can rest easy at night thinking that you’re doing your part to save the mom and pops while the rest of us can eat produce which doesn’t look like it was grown IN the Gowanus canal.
designerbiker – then how do you account for the fact that as a result of Ikea, Red Hook has been destroyed and all of Western Brooklyn is in 100% gridlock???? Oh wait….
One truck delivering groceries for dozens of pedestrians is actually a fairly green solution. And besides I highly doubt that this single store (which isnt that far from public transport) will lead to many more car trips it will likely just divert car trips that otherwise would have went to other locations – in fact if even a small % of “walkable” distance shoppers come here instead of drive to fairway it may lead to less Brooklyn miles driven in the upmarket supermarket category.
“quality meat is hard to find.” – not near here – M&S Meats 5th Ave and 2nd St = quality meats
A agree with 11217. Hats off to Whole foods for coming in and cleaning up this hell whole of a site and turning it into a top quality supermarket! They do beautiful and green designs, and I love that they are going to have a green house and parking for plug-in electric vehicles. They are a model to be followed.
It is tiring to hear relentless criticism of anything from big business. From the day that Ikea announced their move to Red Hook I was overjoyed. They had a history of good stewardship and great design, I knew that they would do things right, and I’m sure Whole Foods will do the same. They went out of their way to built a giant waterfront park for gods sake!
OBVIOUSLY, the delivery will be by bicycle (bike lanes anyone??!!). Or by my bacon grease powered car, if I can get WF to hire me.
From Crains a rendering and proposed opening date in 2012:
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20101129/REAL_ESTATE/101129919
I’m guessing a truck DH. Although I’m not familiar with their specific delivery policies…I’m not a pussy and I walk my own groceries home. 😉
Whole Foods still only has the zoning to build a 10,000 square foot store on the Gowanus site. They don’t have the right to build even the “smaller” store.
Are they again acting with presumptions that they will be able to get building permits based on these revised plans? Could this announcement be another premature blunder?
“I think MANY Park Slopers will walk down the hill for this, and then have it delivered (it specifically states in the press release that they will be offering delivery). ”
how will it be delivered?