12/04/08

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Columbus Village face-off

The Columbus Village development straddles both sides of Columbus Avenue, from 97th to 100th streets.

As the fight over construction of one of Manhattan's largest new residential and retail developments, Columbus Village, escalated into a legal battle last month, leasing agent Winick Realty Group had quietly lined up tenants for more than half the retail space.

Winick has inked deals with nine retailers and the Ryan Center, a community health facility, for nearly 200,000 square feet of the roughly 320,000 total retail space in the development, which sits on both sides of Columbus Avenue from 97th to 100th streets.

The latest transactions bring more food retailers to the mix. Local cupcake maker Crumbs Bake Shop inked a deal for 500 square feet at 775 Columbus Avenue, one of five new addresses in the massive project. Tri-state area grocer Associated Supermarkets will take 13,000 square feet at 801 Amsterdam Avenue in the complex.

Sources suggested off-price apparel retailer T.J. Maxx may lease space at 808 Columbus Avenue.

On a recent weekday afternoon, the site hummed with the sound of power saws as construction workers raced to add another 12 stories to an eventual 29-story condo tower that will dwarf the existing residential properties on the site. The Chetrit Group and Stellar Management bought those seven red brick slab towers, collectively known as Park West Village, in 2000, and the redevelopment is part of a dramatic reshaping of this long-overlooked stretch of the Upper West Side.

Community groups and the Manhattan borough president are strongly opposed to the development. At press time, plaintiff Paul Bunten, a resident of Park West Village, was gearing up for a lengthy court battle over the legality of the construction and the need for an environmental review.

Late last month, Congressman Charles Rangel and representatives from the state Legislature and City Council joined the suit as co-plaintiffs.

A high-profile, protracted legal battle could hamper Winick's effort to fill the rest of the space. Winick declined to comment for this story.

The latest two retail deals tilt the Columbus Village lineup further toward local stores. They round out a roster containing two parts Anywhere U.S.A. mall players (Borders, crafting emporium Michael's and two big banks) plus one part workhorse local chains (Duane Reade and Modell's), enlivened with a hearty glamour shot of upscale organics (Whole Foods).

Anchor tenant Whole Foods, which took a sprawling 57,500-square-foot space at the southwest corner of 97th Street and Columbus, has become a flashpoint for larger tensions around the project. Class issues are one major element of the controversy. The developers displaced an inexpensive C-Town grocery store — patronized by residents of apartments already on that stretch of Columbus, and of the housing projects to the north — to make way for Whole Foods and other retailers who can afford shiny new retail space said to carry ground-floor asking rents of $200 per square foot.

In fact, according to a source with knowledge of the deal, Winick chose to lease space to Associated to serve locals who find Whole Foods' prices too high. The move may help blunt criticism aimed at Whole Foods, a.k.a. Whole Paycheck, in particular, and the retail complex in general.

"Associated is [about] capturing different income levels," said the source, who was not authorized to speak and requested anonymity.

Bunten, who filed a lawsuit against the Department of Buildings as well as Columbus Village's developers and contractors last month, takes care to assert he has no objection to Whole Foods. Bunten bristled when queried about whether he shops at the chain, asserting: "My habits are really immaterial… Our issue is that the building be constructed lawfully."

Other area residents and business owners expressed more pointed reactions. At grocery store Mani Marketplace, stocked with organic fruit and the kind of chichi granola shoppers will also find at Whole Foods, manager Taso Mastakouris says he's not worried about the competition, boasting that all of his prices are lower than Whole Foods'. Overall, he is hopeful that more retail space in the neighborhood will help him expand the store he has operated at 697 Columbus at West 94th Street for 16 years. "It might be a good thing, and bring [retail] real estate [rents] down," said Mastakouris.

Others are much less sanguine. Sitting at her dining room table on an upper floor of 788 Columbus, octogenarian Vivian Dee looks out her window not at the trees or Central Park, the view she had for 40 years, but the neon orange netting around the new residential tower. The shouts of construction workers and din of their efforts provide a backdrop to her every word. Dee misses the C-Town market and a diner where neighbors used to congregate, and would like a similar eatery to open.

Then there are practical concerns that those who will flock to Whole Foods and go home again don't have to consider. Jean Green Dorsey, vice president of community group West Siders for Public Participation, worries about Whole Foods' plan to unload trucks on 97th Street, already a busy thoroughfare with a school, health center and through traffic from Central Park. "We're for change, but we want change that respects the people who are already here," she said.