John Catsimatidis’ Myrtle Avenue Stalemate or Do You Really Think This Guy Can Be Mayor?

By on July 27, 2008 9:35 am in News, Other Brooklyn

Gristedes supermarket king pin John Catsimatidis’ Myrtle Avenue condo/supermarket project is stalled according to a report in today’s NY Daily News.  Apparently, Catsimatidis was so confident at one point in the inevitability of the project’s completion that he demolished the neighborhood’s only supermarket to make way for construction.  We found this passage in the Daily News piece particularly interesting especially given the current state of the Gristedes in question:

New York Daily News: Myrtle Ave. Condo/Supermarket…: Plagued from the start, the development project became even more controversial in 2006 after Catsimatidis razed the Associated supermarket on Myrtle Ave. to make way for the condo buildings, leaving residents without a grocery store.

There was a short-lived free shuttle bus that carted residents to a nearby Pathmark, but the service ended when local groups could no longer afford it.

Catsimatidis refused to feed the rival grocer’s business.

“We offered to give the free shuttle to our Gristedes store in Brooklyn Heights, and they said, ‘No, Gristedes is too expensive, we want it to go to Pathmark,'” said Catsimatidis, recalling a conversation with tenant leaders last year.

“That’s rubbing the grain wrong, for us to be paying to get them to our competition,” Catsimatidis added.

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  • anon

    New York would be a better place if they raised each and every Gristedes. The fact that all signs of life have ended at the BH location is, well, curious given all the pronouncements about its reopening after the “electrical accident.” Fact is that Catsimatidis is absolutely corrupt and I hope the GOP is foolish enough to nominate him for mayor.

  • Monty

    Homer, can you pass around a collection hat so the citizens of BH can buy the Gristedes location on Henry and turn it into a food co-op?

  • BH Gurl

    Anon- what evidence do you have of Catsimatidis being corrupt and if he is how is it different from the crap pulled by Quinn and the City Council? At least this guy has never stolen any of my money…….

  • Andrew Porter

    Your own links quote him as saying the Heights Gristede’s would reopen in 6-8 weeks, or some time in June at the latest. There’s absolutely nothing happening at the place. Any word on what the delay is?

  • http://BrooklynHeightsBlog Karl

    If the qualification to be mayor is good, sound business acumen, yea he is a good candidate. He had the foresight to buy this land 25 years ago prior to MetroTech and the lifting of air right restrictions. He now has a gold mine on his hands with the Toren, Avalon Bay, Oro’s 1&2 being built next door. To call this a derelict strip of Myrtle Ave shows the lack of knowledge of the Daily News writer. On the south side of this parcel are the University Towers complex which is anything but derelict.

    Fact is, we are living in a period where financing is very difficult to get. Developers aren’t the only ones who can’t get financing, NYTimes today has article about businesses not being able to get loans. We all know about difficulty getting mortgages etc.

    Give the guy a break. He is making a smart business decision building one now on Ashland, which will have a grocery and pharmacy, and the other 3 buildings will be built as economic conditions dictate. Wish the city in general was as careful with its expenditures. Though I must admit I like the current mayor but Albany is a totally different animal.

  • http://BrooklynHeightsBlog Karl
  • anon

    Looks like Gristedes must have had a two-for-one sale on Kool Aid.

  • Anonymous

    Does anyone know what happened to the myrtle avenue situation since July?