Key Food Sale Closes; Apartments, Grocery Store Planned

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — An investment group has closed on the sale of Park Slope's Key Food on Fifth Avenue, clearing the way for a plan that would see the supermarket demolished and replaced with apartment towers and an affordable grocery store.

Avery Hall Investments closed on the sale Tuesday for $45.7 million, city records show. Construction could begin later this year, according to The Real Deal, and it's unclear how long the supermarket will stay open in the mean time.

A group of local leaders — including Councilman Brad Lander, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer — expressed "enthusiastic support" in a letter to the city's planning commissions and department of housing preservation and development.

An agreement between AHI and 10 community organizations, which includes Lander's office, calls for 41 units of housing that is designated "affordable," including 16 units of "deeply affordable," for families making up to 40 percent of the area median income.

The 41 affordable housing units are part of 165 total units planned across two apartment buildings, each less than seven stories tall.

"After hearing from the community about their needs, we responded by making revisions we believe will be valued by our neighbors and future residents alike," Brian Ezra, co-founder and principal of Avery Hall Investments, said in a press release.

"We applaud Councilmember Lander, the Fifth Avenue Committee and every participating civic and community organization for structuring a good-faith, collaborative process that resulted in a big win for balanced development."

The plan also calls for a 22,000 square-foot supermarket (the current Key Food is 30,000, including storage) as part of 56,000 square feet of retail space. The new supermarket will have a 20-year lease and will be chosen following a request for proposals that excludes five "high-end grocers," according to the plan.

Original plans from the developer did not include a supermarket and only had 32 "affordable" units. Those plans changed, though, after significant community push-back.

“We’re grateful for the strong cooperation seen in this Collaboration Agreement -- from the willingness and patience of Avery Hall Investments to address community needs, to the Community Stakeholder Group that worked tirelessly on behalf of their neighbors," Lander said in a press release. "This is the strong advocacy our communities need and represents a real win/win situation."

Rendering via AHI