Crown Heights Supermarket Reaches Deal To Stay On Nostrand Avenue

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A supermarket whose potential eviction caused an uproar in Crown Heights has reached a deal with developers to stay at its Nostrand Avenue site, owners of the property announced this week.

Associated Supermarket, which has been at the 975 Nostrand Ave. lot for 30 years, has signed a new 15-year lease with Midwood Investment & Development, who plan to redevelop the property with a mixed-use housing and retail building, Midwood said Wednesday.

The deal ends a years-long negotiation between the developers and supermarket owner Pablo Espinal about the fate of the grocery store.

“We’ve been a proud member of the Crown Heights community for more than fifty years and understand just how important having an affordable, quality supermarket is for the neighborhood,” Midwood President John Usdan said in a release. “This project will not only preserve a beloved local grocery store, but also provide Mr. Espinal with a larger, state-of-the-art space, along with much-needed affordable housing – all in place of a parking lot and obsolete market building."

The new building will include a 21,000-square-foot space for Associated, compared to the 16,000-square-foot building it currently operates in, developers said.

The supermarket will still need to close by July 31, but will reopen when construction on the building is complete. The 15-year lease will start when it reopens.

“We are thrilled to have worked productively with the Midwood team to ensure our market can remain in the heart of Crown Heights for many years,” Espinal said. “While the types of products and friendly service so many have come to love over the years will remain the same, our customers will return to a beautiful new facility, with space for a wider variety of food and goods than ever before. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back to the new store.”

News about Associated's potential closure first made headlines earlier this year, when neighbors learned it had been issued a 90-day vacate order. Thousands of residents who worried its closure would turn the lower section of Crown Heights into a food desert signed a petition and held rallies aimed at keeping it open.

Midwood, who has owned the property since 1970, contended the vacate order came only after Espinal rejected their offer of $300,000 buyout and the right of first offer on supermarket space planned for the new building.

The developers even ended up suing Espinal for what they said was a "smear campaign" against the company, according to reports at the time.

The new development planned for the site will include mixed-income housing, including a "significant number of affordable units," and retail spaces on the ground floor, according to Midwood. They did not specify a timeline for the new building.