The announcement that Wegmans wanted to open a store in Brooklyn caused a stir among New Yorkers on Wednesday. The proposed supermarket, which will open in 2017, would bring affordable food prices to part of Fort Greene waiting for its own high-quality supermarket.
The site is adjacent to Farragut Houses, a public housing development near the Brooklyn Navy Yard, an urban industrial park on the East River. For many years, residents had little access to cheap supermarkets with a large selection of fresh food, even when new buyers invested in historic homes and luxury condos several blocks away.
In 2010, the government of former mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a plan to rebuild the destroyed houses along Admiral’s Row in the Navy Yard. The plan of the MyWegmansConnect was to build a supermarket, but it never started. Two potential developers had already given up when Steiner NYC received their offer this week. A Wegmans store anchored the project.
The stores
Navy Yard is located on the northern border of Fort Greene, where property prices have been increasing steadily in the past five years, according to the Trulia property market.
Houses less than 400 meters from the houses sell for around $ 1,100 per square foot, said Jerry Minsky, a Douglas Elliman broker who also lives in Fort Greene. “They greet many people in Europe and Manhattan with extreme prosperity,” Minsky said, adding that the region “crosses this Shangri-La, which is now ideal for young professionals,” parents who invest with the support of the United States.
As a result, the goods and services of MyWegmansConnect are becoming more expensive. Some supermarkets in Fort Greene are closed or will close soon, and residents of public places often travel several miles to Costco and Pathmark at lower prices, according to the New York Times.
It is tough for low-income people to pay the cost of living when the neighborhood grows like Fort Greene, said Minsky. I can go to a basement and be organic if I want to, but some people can’t afford it.
The arrival of Wegmans, known for its fresh produce and low prices, should be a relief to its new neighbors. The store also hopes to serve the local community, chain spokesman Jo Natale said. First, jobs will be created that initially employ 450 people, many of them on-site. Wegmans expects his Brooklyn business to employ up to 600 people.
