Quantcast

Big box for Shore Pkwy

Big box for Shore Pkwy
The Brooklyn Paper / Jeff Bachner

A discount wholesaler might give Costco some competition when it opens along Shore Parkway in Bensonhurst.

BJ’s Wholesale Club, a big-box store that offers members discounted prices on brand-name goods, signed a 20-year lease at the site of a bus depot near the former Nellie Bly Amusement Park and Dreier-Offerman Park.

But before developer Joe Sitt can put a shovel in the ground, he’ll need a zoning change from the city — and that may not be easy, given that the same city government is battling him over his $1.5-billion plan to transform Coney Island into a 24-7-365 amusement Vegas-style Xanadu.

Bensonhurst officials, however, think the retail project won’t get stuck in the sand.

“They’re presenting a good plan,” said Rob Hart, spokesman for Councilman Domenic Recchia (D–Bensonhurst). “This project is one thing and the Coney Island project is another.”

Sitt hopes to make fast work on a $100-million development on the site he bought for $10 million in 2005. Construction on BJ’s could start next year — pending that rezoning.