Whole Foods Can't Do It Alone (In Gowanus)
Gowanus Whole Foods isn’t dead, as we speculated last month, it’s just very badly burned. The supermarket needs a developer-partner to finish the job at Third and Third, reports the Brooklyn Paper. But what does that mean? A mini-mall? Another Toll Brothers-style mixed use development? The Fairway model, with residential units above? Nobody knows, since…
Gowanus Whole Foods isn’t dead, as we speculated last month, it’s just very badly burned. The supermarket needs a developer-partner to finish the job at Third and Third, reports the Brooklyn Paper. But what does that mean? A mini-mall? Another Toll Brothers-style mixed use development? The Fairway model, with residential units above? Nobody knows, since this mysterious developer isn’t named, and since the rezoning of the area is still in progress; if the current plan goes through, the Whole Foods site would be restricted to commercial and manufacturing. Not surprisingly, the root of the problem is money. To get a loan, you need an enormous amount of cash, said commercial broker Chris Havens. It’s not worth it to them to put cash in the building.
Whole Foods Needs a Partner on Gowanus Job [Brooklyn Paper]
Gowanus Whole Foods Looking for Breeding Partner [Curbed]
Photo by mhwolk.
Northsloperenter-
“Do you really not understand?”
Well, actually I do understand pretty well, I think.
Here is an article, oddly enough from -today’s- New Yorker:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/15/060515crat_atlarge
And yes, I do understand how market cap differs from total revenue.
there = their…
First, word processors convince us all we don’t have to be so careful with our typing since it is so easy to edit. Then online forums don’t let us edit.
Sigh.
“Even with Whole Foods profits losing last year and with the general economy in the tank, lets not forget that Whole Foods is a 5 billion $ company. Why they can’t scramble the dosh to do this project is beyond me.”
Do you really not understand?
How are they a 5 billion $ company?
There current market cap is 1.6 billion and there stock is off 75% in the last year. For the July quarter they had negative cash flow and $34,000 in net income. They haven’t announced numbers for their Sept. quarter, but it is hard to be optimistic about them. And with the credit market gone to hell, they either can’t borrow or can only borrow on lousy terms.
In a decade or so, if we’re lucky. And no matter how big a company they are, who knows if Whole Foods will even be around by then? I predict a mini-mall with a K-Mart will be there by 2017.
Whole foods owns the land. They are not going to walk away from this property. We are not talking about some rinky dink company here. They will get it done.
It’s only a flesh wound.
well, it may not be dead dead but it sure is on life support. Developers need loans to build. The current loan market is beyond dead. It means that any development is decades away at best. They have decided this is too expensive a project for whole foods with limited returns. So they will turn it over to an unnamed developer so their only exposure is the lease they will sign.
How many years down the road is this? they have plans they have spent much money and have decided to not walk away completely but to turn it over to someone else. Yep its not dead….really.
Even with Whole Foods profits losing last year and with the general economy in the tank, lets not forget that Whole Foods is a 5 billion $ company. Why they can’t scramble the dosh to do this project is beyond me.
I shopped in the new, vast, Whole Foods on Greenwich St. near the West Side Highway (cross street is Warren St. maybe?) yesterday and I was floored. Outside of ALL of Battery Park City’s stroller kids seething and screaming, demanding their sesame noodles with cucumber maki or whatever precious morsels they weren’t getting fast enough, it was an amazing event. Its near a ton of trains, parking sort of exists (standing definitely does) and best of all it was nearly empty (except for the aforementioned hollering, echoing stroller babies).
Although just as overpriced as everywhere else, the fish and meats looked great, the market is the biggest one I’ve seen in Manhattan, it was clean, accessable and just a delight. THere wasn’t even a line!
Who needs a Gowanus Whole Foods? You can’t get there from anywhere anyhow.