The people of Crown Heights want more affordable groceries. Soon, they will have them.
A 105,000-square-foot mixed-use development that will house a 33,000 square-foot Lidl discount supermarket is in the plans for Crown Heights, in an area considered to be an affordable food desert. Seventh Street Development Group, a New York City-based real estate firm, plans to build the complex with 12,000 square feet of retail space, 57 residential units, 12,000 square feet of office space, and a 9,000 square-foot community facility at 1730 Bedford Ave., cornering Empire Boulevard, just three blocks from Prospect Park.
The company and secured a $62.25 million construction loan through Eastern Union for the project over a two-year term, indicating the project could be done in that same time frame.
In 2021, a food void was created in the neighborhood when the Associated Supermarket on Nostrand Avenue shut its doors, leaving locals to shop at delis and convenience stores — which had higher prices and fewer selections than grocery stores. Many, including seniors, had to commute to get to the closest supermarket. According to a 2018 report, bodegas outnumber grocery stores in Crown Heights 25 to 1.
“It seems as if things are getting more expensive by the week and that is the only thing that is changing around here,” said Crown Heights resident, Tarcy Morgan, 64, who benefits from a weekly pop-up farmstand run by GrowNYC, a nonprofit selling produce from local agricultures a few blocks away from where the new grocery store is planned to be constructed.
“This is a large neighborhood with many people struggling while doing their best,” said Morgan.”Many organizations are here to help, but people need to feel like they have the opportunity to shop at a supermarket without fearing getting ripped off.”
Approximately 1.2 million people, or 14.6% percent of New York City residents, dealt with food insecurity in 2022, according to a report by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy. That shows an increase from the nearly 1.1 million or 12.5% reported in 2021 by the Food Bank NYC nonprofit organization.
Nearly 1.2 million New Yorkers were food insecure even before the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 185 million missing meals across the five boroughs. The average meal costs in New York County are estimated to be $6.31, almost twice as high as the national average, $3.25.
The Lidl grocery store is said to offer baked goods, fresh produce, flowers, meats and seafood, as well as other everyday grocery essentials. Eighty percent of the store’s assortment consists of private label products and the majority are sourced in the U.S. USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards and Food & Wine Magazine have repeatedly ranked Lidl among the top grocers in the country.
“We look forward to continuing our expansion in New York City and opening even more stores in the future, bringing our unique value proposition to additional areas of the city where New Yorkers for far too long have had to put up with high grocery prices,” said Or Raitses, senior director of real estate for Lidl’s Northern Region, in a statement.
Correction July 12, 2023, 4:27 p.m.: This story previously misstated the developer of the project as Eastern Union, not Seventh Street Development Group.
