Whole Foods "Actively Working" to Open Gowanus Store
More on the never-ending saga about whether or not Whole Foods is committed to building a store on its contaminated site on 3rd Street in the Gowanus…To recap: Eight days ago, the blog Brooklyn the Borough quoted a company spokesperson as saying, at this juncture we do not have immediate plans to open a new…
More on the never-ending saga about whether or not Whole Foods is committed to building a store on its contaminated site on 3rd Street in the Gowanus…To recap: Eight days ago, the blog Brooklyn the Borough quoted a company spokesperson as saying, at this juncture we do not have immediate plans to open a new store in Brooklyn but do hope to be there someday soon. The Brooklyn Paper confirmed the quote that day and continued to stick by its story while the company did a Clinton-esque parsing of its previous statement. Finally, this morning, the paper reported a “180-degree turnaround from last week” with the following statement from Whole Foods: Certainly, our spokesperson’s statement could have been a lot clearer. [But] that doesn’t change the fact that Whole Foods Market is actively working on plans for a store at the Gowanus site.
I guess if it were at Vanderbilt and Fulton…I just know I’d end up wandering in, shudder at the prices, and buy things…
The Vanderbilt and Fulton location of the new residential complex approved be built (but not yet financed apparently) would be a much better location.
Do “you” mean to tell “me” that Whole Foods can have two stores in a small city like Providence, Rhode Island and not have one in Brooklyn at all?
Brooklyn surely has well more than twice the population of the Providence metro region (which includes Massachusetts)…and there is certainly competition from tons of other supermarkets, small and large.
There are HOW many Whole Foods in Manhattan??? And we don’t have one?
…not that I’d shop there… 🙂
I think it has more to do with admitting to their share holders that they bought this land with real money and didn’t have a viable plan….I wonder if they have written the value down on their books…
Financially makes no sense for WF to do this as supermarket only. Margins too low, business down. They are seeking a developer to build for them and add other commercial and possibly residential space to the mix, to make it work.
WF wants built space for super cheap, wherever they go, so they can make a profit. Very challenging project to put together. They want to be in BK and are looking at all options. Tough to find large spaces in good locations anyway, and then WF wants really cheap deal.
It’s only a flesh wound…
Screw Whole Foods get Wegman’s in there.
Brilliant insight, fsrq. I aint mad at them. Unload.
***Bid half off peak comps***
IMO the is is about land value (as in, the land is perfectly fine we just chose not to open vs. The land is no good and we COULDN’T open), and politics (retaining some credibility on the superfund debate – which gets back to land value). This WF will never open at 3rd and 3rd – this is about RE not retail.