NYC openings: Brooklyn gets its first Apple Store, Manhattan gets another Trader Joe’s and another WholeFoods, and that controversial so-called Ground Zero Mosque is finally getting built in Lower Manhattan, blocks from the World Trade Center. Here are the details:
Brooklyn’s first Apple store: It opens soon in Williamsburg, at 274 Bedford Ave., in a two-story brick building at the corner of North 3rd St. Apple has six other retail stores in New York City, including the flagship at Fifth Avenue and 57th St., Grand Central, SoHo, Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and West 14th Street locations, plus one each in Queens and Staten Island. Apple also is rumored to be planning another store at the Westfield shopping complex at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan later this year.
Trader Joe’s: The Upper West Side is getting its second TJs, at the corner of 93rd St and Columbus Ave., a couple of blocks from rival Whole Foods, which is at Columbus and 97th. The new location is in the newly extended shopping addiition to a high-rise condo. Trader Joe’s has more than 450 stores nationwide. It arrived launched in NYC in 2006 and has been expanding since its first store at 142 East 14th Street in Union Square. There also are are stores at 675 Sixth Avenue in Chelsea, 130 Court Street in Cobble Hill and 9030 Metropolitan Avenue in Rego Park. Two more stores are planned for Brooklyn, at 1 DeKalb Avenue in Williamsburg and the City Point megaproject in Downtown Brooklyn.
Whole Foods: The organic food chain is taking over some pricey real estate in Times Square. There’s no official word when the location on Sixth Avenue, between 42nd and 41st Streets will open, but it’s unlikely to be in time for all the summer picnicking in Bryant Park, across the street.
Ground Zero Mosque: This controversial project, now called the Islamic Cultural Center, will be within a 43-story luxury condo tower at 45 Park Place in Tribeca. According to The Real Deal real estate report, developer Sharif El-Gamal of Soho Properties, has gotten a $219 million construction loan for the project, which will include 50 luxury apartments, a pool, a fitness center, a children’s playroom, and a 2,821 square foot public plaza along with retail and green space. The cultural center, originally to be a 15-story complex, has been downsized to just three stories. It’s all due to be completed in 2018.
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