Gowanus Whole Foods Toast?
Brownstoner.com.
The proposed Gowanus Whole Foods site.
That's what Brownstoner's reporting. Evidently, according to a source within the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which must sign off on development on the Gowanus site at Third Street and Third Avenue, the store's a no-go. Besides:
[E]vidently the trend in the supermarket biz has swung away from superstores, our source notes; in addition, in the wake of poor earnings this summer, Whole Foods announced that it would be cutting back on the number of new stores next year. The likely upshot? Even if Whole Foods decided to open a smaller store in Brooklyn, says our source, it's unlikely it would want to use this site.
While I hope this opens the door to real planning for this old industrial/estuary landscape--which sits at sea level; I can't believe that WHM is pulling out until they say so.
DOB records show that they were still trying to aquire permits just last month; but then much can happen in a month.