Crown Heights: Get the Latest on Bedford Ave's Planned 'FRESH' Market

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The developers behind a planned 11-story mixed-income residential building at 1519-1535 Bedford Ave. are looking for the community to back a fresh food supermarket they want to install on its first floor.

Adam America Real Estate originally planned an eight story building at the site, but subsequently bumped up its design parameters to 11 stories, in part because they asked to add a certified "FRESH" market in the building.

The city's FRESH program sets standards that all such markets must meet. Among them:

• The market must have at least 6,000 square feet of retail for food and non-food grocery items.
• At least half of the food items must be for home preparation.
• At least 30 percent of the retail space must be for perishable goods, such as meat, fish and dairy.
• At least 500 square feet of retail space must be available for fresh produce.

Developers receive incentives from the city for making space for FRESH markets, including the right to build larger projects.

The market's FRESH certification is still pending. As part of that process, Adam America Real Estate is seeking a letter of support from Community Board 8, which represents Crown Heights.

The board will discuss the issue at the Jan. 5 meeting of its land use committee, scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at 727 Classon Ave.

You can read the rest of the meeting's agenda on CB 8's website, and below is a document from the developer summarizing the company's project:

Top image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Flickr