By Ronda Kaysen
Whole Foods Market, the high-end grocery store that has New Yorkers salivating for sushi grade tuna and calamata
olive bread, may soon plant itself on Greenwich St.
When plans for a 1 million sq. ft. development on Site 5B in Tribeca were unveiled at a Jan. 5th public scoping session, the familiar green Whole Foods Market awning was sketched into the Skidmore, Owens & Merrill-designed illustrations.
“There is a very good chance that we’ll get a Whole Foods,” Ben McGrath, C.F.O. to Minskoff Equities Inc., the site’s developer, told Downtown Express. “We’ll know for certain in the next month or so.”
Whole Foods is less committal about the possibility. “We don’t have anything finalized yet,” said Angela Rakis, a spokesperson for Whole Foods Market, in a telephone interview. “We’re always looking at new locations.”
The long term construction project, not just at 270 Greenwich St., but also at neighboring Site 5C and at the new World Trade Center — part of which will be designed by S.O.M — concerned Kevin Fisher, president of P.S. 234’s P.T.A. “We have a perfect storm of construction in the area,” he said at the session. “The 720 children of P.S. 234 will be living through four or five years of major construction. There’s going to be dust and incredible amounts of noise. One wonders whether some analysis of the structural effects on the school should be looked at as well.”
Albert Capsouto, chairperson of C.B. 1’s Tribeca Committee, did not make a formal comment at the session, but was pleased to see that the plan did not call for a Floor Area Ratio increase. All other conflicts between the developer and the community, he said, could be resolved. “There are ways of addressing the school’s concerns and the developers concerns either through architectural or schematic ways of dealing with Warren St.,” he said. The Warren St. changes will need C.B. 1 approval to go forward.
For years, neighbors have been objecting to various tower proposals for Sites 5B and 5C, with some more concerned about the shadow effects to Washington Market Park and P.S. 234 and others focused on increasing the size of the rec center. Minskoff’s proposed change could reopen this debate over competing concerns.
Public comments can be mailed to Marilyn Lee, New York City Economic Development Corporation, 110 Williams St., 10038, or faxed to 212-312-3989 before 5 p.m. on Jan. 18th.
Ronda@DowntownExpress.com
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