Fine Fare Marketplace, full-service supermarket, will open this spring at The Pointe, a condo building at 155 Bay St., St. George.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A full-service supermarket is set to open its doors this spring in St. George, answering a call from area residents who say they are short on grocery options.
Fine Fare Marketplace – which has 60 locations throughout the tri-state area — will occupy more than 10,000 square feet on the ground level of The Pointe, a condominium on the corner of Bay Street and Victory Boulevard.
“Why are we so giddy about a supermarket?” asked Theo Dorian, president of the St. George Civic Association. “Because we’ve been underserved in this area for so long, the opening of a supermarket is actually big news.”
It was both the need and the strategic location which lured in store owner Mofeed Said, who noted the ongoing redevelopment of the homeport and the proposal for the New York Wheel and accompanying outlet mall.
“The last couple of years, there’s been a lot of redevelopment and revitalization,” said Said, a 23-year-old Dongan Hills resident whose family owns five supermarkets in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
“A lot of people are passing through.”
In addition to traditional supermarket offerings, like baked goods, fresh seafood and a butcher, there will also be free valet parking and a lot with 38 spaces.
Said expects to open in late March or early April.
“We want to make it as nice as we can for our customers,” he said.
The Pointe was one of the failed trophy projects of high-profile developer Leib Puretz.
It was given new life in October when Meadow Partners, a real estate investment and asset manager, received a $24 million loan to refinance and complete the building. More than half the condos have sold since Meadow Partners put them on the market in March.
And negotiations are ongoing to fill the two remaining retail spaces, one 4,900 square-feet and another 4,000 square-feet.
“We’re talking to everyone from trade schools to service-related retail,” said leasing agent James Prendamano of Casandra Properties. “People in the neighborhood are excited.”
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