The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company has owned a 2.5-acre parcel empty lot bordering Summit, Laidlaw and Jefferson avenues in Jersey City since 2001.
They aspire build a new supermarket there at least five times the size of the one they currently operate on Central Avenue.
But there are some snags, including the fact that one supermarket official confirmed that the state’s Schools Construction Corporation already may have been granted the right in court to build a school there.
The state refused to comment on the matter last week, saying they cannot speak about any acquisitions that are currently in negotiations.
Mayor Jerremiah Healy said he believed that the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (NJSCC) received a judgment in court to go ahead with acquiring the land.
The NJSCC is a public agency responsible for overseeing New Jersey’s $8.6 billion school construction program. The NJSCC has committed to building a number of schools in Jersey City including the new Public School No.3 on Grand Street, slated to open this fall.
The SCC provoked controversy in the past year due to the unprecedented eminent domain power that the agency exercised in the past year, as well as their exorbitant spending practices that led to a state investigation and future funding being delayed.
Sources said the proposed plan would be an elementary school for 650 students. If built, the school would be located near a high school for 950 students that is currently in construction on Collard Street, a block away.
When Tom Ahern, senior project officer of Land Acquisition for NJSCC, was asked last week whether the NJSCC acquired the property, he said that he could not speak about acquisitions currently in negotiations, and he deferred to Kevin McElroy, the public information officer for NJSCC.
McElroy verified what Ahern said and could not speak any further. When asked which court gave the judgment, McElroy could not give specifics.
Stop & Shop would have to wait for any move by the NJSCC before going to the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustments to have the site rezoned for a supermarket with parking. Residents divided
Before the NJSCC came into the picture, some residents supported the supermarket for its convenience and jobs, while others said they want housing in the area and fear that a supermarket will bring additional traffic and noise. Some have said the market would attract shoppers to the nearby Central Avenue Business District and bring tax revenues into the city’s coffers.
After being elected to office, Mayor Jerramiah Healy was in favor of the supermarket being built, but after hearing the complaints, he changed his mind earlier this year, saying that he would like housing instead. However, residents recently expressed concerns about rumors that Healy may be changing his mind once again and welcoming the idea of a supermarket.
Healy said last week that he had been presented with a proposal by Stop & Shop in June that would scale down current plans for a 72,000 square-foot supermarket, with five units of housing built next door. But he said that’s not good enough. He reaffirmed his stance that he wants to see only housing in an area already zoned for residential development.
“Stop & Shop floated a new idea to me that would allow for more two-family homes and a smaller supermarket, and they wanted my blessing to go ahead,” said Healy, “but it’s still zoned for residential, and the residents would like to see housing. And like to do what’s best for the residents of this city.” Still in the market for a new store
For the past five years, Stop & Shop has operated a different supermarket on the corner of Central and Manhattan avenues. But the chain wanted especially in the past year to construct a larger supermarket on par with the newer Stop-N-Shop supermarkets in Bayonne and Secaucus.
The current Stop & Shop in Jersey City occupies 14,000 square feet of space, which employees and Stop & Shop officials say is too small and does not have such features as a deli, a bakery, larger aisles and sufficient office space.
Stop & Shop’s new plans include a 218-space parking area underneath the supermarket.
Customers would be transported up to the supermarket via an “inclinator,” which is a moving walkway that operates like an escalator.
Also, Stop & Shop will build two-family houses that would act as a buffer between the supermarket and the homes that are currently standing on both Laidlaw and Jefferson avenues.
Frank Maglio, the senior real estate development manager for Stop & Shop, confirmed that he and other representatives from Stop & Shop met with Healy late last month. Both Maglio and Faith Weiner, spokesperson for Stop & Shop, said that Stop & Shop would stand by their original plan.
“Our goal is replace the existing store. We believe that by doing so, we are satisfying a need, that we will keep business in the Heights,” said Maglio.
When Maglio was asked about the NJSCC’s plans to acquire the property, he admitted that the NJSCC did receive a judgment in an unnamed NJ court to take the property and the court has apparently appointed administrators to evaluate the value of the property.
But Maglio was optimistic that Stop & Shop will eventually proceed with their plans for a new supermarket, but only with the support of the mayor and other city officials. Still a contentious issue
The Stop & Shop issue still brings out the passions of those for and against it.
Residents and officials discussed it at a July 21 meeting in City Hall including the mayor, Michael Yun, the president of the Central Avenue Special Improvement District (CASID), David Diaz, the executive director of the CASID, and Aileen Fishman, the owner of Bond Drugs on Central Avenue.
Both Yun and Diaz were initially concerned over rumors that Healy was in favor of plans to build the larger supermarket. But Yun said that Healy later reassured him that he had never changed his mind and is against what Yun referred to as a “big-box” supermarket.
“The mayor told me those were all rumors that he is now in favor of a supermarket,” said Yun, the owner of Garden State News on Central Avenue, only a few blocks from the current Stop & Shop supermarket.
Yun, other Central Avenue business owners and various Heights-based neighborhood groups have led the fight against Stop & Shop’s plans for a new supermarket, citing a possible negative impact of the proposed supermarket upon their businesses and an increase in traffic in the area.
The area contains a firehouse, a school for the blind, a high school under construction, and homes.
Some residents living near the site, such as Joanna Wroblewski, are in favor of a school being built rather a supermarket. “There aren’t enough schools in the Heights,” she said. “I have a daughter going into third grade who has to be bused to a school many blocks away.”
But Vigenzo Baratta, the owner of 710 Summit Ave. located across the street from the site, and his tenant Shahfar Azad were both in favor of the supermarket. Baratta said that the Stop & Shop was “good” and he doesn’t mind the prospect of noise. He remembered that the site was once occupied by the Davey Paper Company, which operated at all hours of the night.
Proponents of the supermarket also say it would provide 270 jobs.
Catherine Grimm, a resident of nearby Waverly Avenue who is also in favor of the supermarket, said that Healy should think about the senior citizens who travel to either Downtown Jersey City or North Bergen to shop.
“The mayor says that he wants to do what’s best for the residents of Jersey City. He should evaluate what is beneficial for that site – either a school that will serve the parents of 650 students, or the food is vital for those children and parents as well as [other people],”said Grimm, “Many of whom don’t drive and need the convenience of a large supermarket.”