NY Observer > Whole Foods Market Inc.

New Whole Foods Seeks 21st Amendment

Chris Shott — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 20:00:00 -0400

Whole Foods’ whopping 71,000-square-foot new supermarket opened last week on the Bowery at Hou read more »

In This Week's Observer...

Observer Staff — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 05:00:00 -0400

The 10 Most Expensive Buildings in New York City If every New York City office building went up for sale, which ones would sell for the highest price? The Observer asked the denizens of the real estate world--the people who buy the buildings and the ones who trade them--which towers they thought would close with the biggest price tags. Go to story by John Koblin. The Crisis of the Upper-Middle Class: Big Pay Is Piddling in New York Pity upper-middle class Manhattanites. The average sales price of apartments here has spiked so extremely--tripling in the last decade to a record $1,295,445, according to a recent Prudential Douglas Elliman report--that only the most excessively well-heeled can become local owners. Go to story by Max Abelson. City Mean to Developers Being Green? Despite the hype about green roofs; despite the rampant branding of luxury residences with names like The Solaire and Tribeca Green; despite the cachet that once-repulsive ideas have now garnered (waterless urinals! recycled rainwater!); technologies that allow buildings to generate at least a portion of their own power in a clean, efficient way are having trouble catching on in Manhttan. Go to story by Matthew Schuerman. Another for Broadway Partners! Busy Firm Buys 280 Park for $1.2 B. The most ferocious investment firm of the last six months, Broadway Partners, is in contract to purchase 280 Park Avenue from Istithmar for a little more than $1.2 billion, a source said. Murray Hill Properties Nabs 1180 Avenue of the Americas for $300 M. One of the city's most active landlords, Murray Hill Properties, is in contract to purchase 1180 Avenue of the Americas for at least $300 million, a source said. Go to Commercial Breaks by John Koblin. New Whole Foods Seeks 21st Amendment Whole Foods' whopping 71,000-square-foot new supermarket opened last week on the Bowery at Houston Street, boasting perhaps the most extensive selection of groceries in Manhattan--though not a drop of alcohol. No organic Oregonian red wines. No earthy Vermont microbrews. Not even any gluten-free sorghum beers. Humble Ping-Pong Racket Merely a (Store)front for Entreprenuerial Brothers Barely one and a half weeks into existence, the tiny table-tennis club on Norfolk Street, which features only one ping-pong table, was already experiencing supply problems. Not that the owners' livelihood depends on it. Go to Counter Espionage by Chris Shott. No Contract for $59 M. Guccione Mansion, But 'The Conservative American Loves It' The brashest mansion in Manhattan, a nearly 20,000-square-foot Beaux-Arts townhouse that belonged to porn magnate Bob Guccione before his money woes, has entered its 13th month on the market. N.F.L. Commish, FOX News Anchor Hike 7-Room Co-Op for $2.72 M. Heartbreakingly, the Upper East Side has lost one of its all-American families: Roger Goodell, the new commissioner of the National Football League, and wife Jane Skinner, a brunette Fox News daytime anchoress (plus their twin daughters). The pedigree family sold its seven-room co-op at 180 East End Avenue late last month for $2.725 million. Go to Manhattan Transfers by Max Abelson. Mixing Legal and Liquor Join Noreen Healy, the only commissioner from the city on the State Liquor Authority, for a crawl through Manhattan's nightlife scene. She'll have an Amstel Light. Go to The Sit-Down by Chris Shott. Quarterly Figures Defy Dour Predictions "Dropped" remains a relative term in a Manhattan housing market that has apparently started 2007 with a bang, with just about every other sales-market barometer even more favorable to apartment sellers (and their brokers). Go to The Lab by Tom Acitelli. Buh-bye, Beige! Spring is here, sigh, a leaf trembles. If you're going to throw everything out the window and repaint top to bottom--which New Yorkers often do because they have so much time on their hands--what color is the color of the moment? Go to Interiors by Toni Schlesinger. The Times Machine Nobody at The New York Times seems to be able to talk about the paper's new building without talking about the future of the newspaper--or rather, the future of the news organization. Go to Off The Record by Michael Calderone. A Week in New York Real Estate Madonna's coming back! The Queen of Pop will be touring 179 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side next week where she hopes to develop a three-floor kabbalah center. Go to Deeds and Deals.

Shott On Location: Some Day, This Forelorn Wasteland, Too, May Feature Its Own Fromagerie

Observer Staff — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:19:15 -0400

Chirping birds, the gentle whirr of passing cars, the distant beeping of a truck a few blocks south backing up....

At 10 a.m. on Friday, the corner of 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street in Brooklyn seemed so serene compared to the hustle and bustle of forthcoming construction and the massive commercial traffic soon to follow.

After celebrating its long-awaited, hugely hyped grand opening of a ginormous new supermarket on Houston Street and the Bowery this week, expansive national organic grocerer Whole Foods now turns its attention to three other local sites under development, including this controversial and contaminated tract near the Gowanus Canal.

Nothing "organic" comes to mind when currently surveying the scene.

The vast expanse of green boards and shrouded chain-link set up along the perimeter conceals a field of rubble, trash bags, weeds, and toxic-looking cesspools, visible only at various gaps in the fencing.

By this time next year, Whole Foods plans to have a whopping 58,000-square-foot supermarket and 430-car parking garage built on the desolate site. Yet, with no sign of any clean-up or construction efforts at present, it's hard to imagine such a massive transformation ever meeting that aggressive timeline.

A company spokesperson, probably still busy with the publicity orgy ongoing on the Bowery, did not immediately return phone calls for comment.

- Chris Shott

The Afternoon Wrap: Wednesday

Observer Staff — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:47:56 -0500

Oh me, oh my, how the Bowery has changed! The place you used to avoid at all costs, even in broad sunshine-y daylight like today, will welcome a Whole Foods in March. The fancy-pants grocer is supposed to open its doors at Bowery and Houston on Mar. 29.

[Curbed]

Residential marketing in New York has always had that certain something--a sense of pizzaz, a sense of adventure. Now, it also has MySpace. Entire buildings are getting their own MySpace pages, complete with sexual orientations and favorite films and TV shows. At least one is trying "to meet serious thrill seekers. Someone who looks for the entertainment in life. Someone who wants to play, for the sake of winning. A heavy need for quality films and that can play pool."

[Gowanus Lounge]

Brooklyn Heights used to have a much different promenade (see above). Before demolition in 1946, "to make way for the expressway, this arched viaduct, greenhouse and buttressed wall were accessible by the stone stairways that led down from the mansions above to the ferry landing below."

[Brownstoner]

CNN/Money lists the 10 Richest Americans Ever (whitest list ever!). Though a few people listed have New York City connections (Astor, Vanderbilt, Rensselear), none made his fortune in real estate. Brokers, take note: Railroads and merchant banking--that's where the money is, apparently.

[CNN/Money]

- Tom Acitelli

'Beware The Third Avenue, My Son'

Observer Staff — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:35:25 -0500

A Hummer ran over a four-year-old last week on the same stretch of Third Avenue in Brooklyn where, Streetsblog reports, a pair of fifth-graders had perished in February 2004 under the wheels of a truck--and both times the children had the light. It is also where Whole Foods is about to open. Um, maybe you don't need that quart of Horizon reduced fat HTST organic milk after all. - Matthew Schuerman

Finally, Egg Creams And Gelato In Brooklyn

Observer Staff — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 07:45:03 -0500

Hold it like a man, Marty!

Brooklyn politicos, including borough beep Marty Markowitz, broke out the spades on Wednesday at a groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the construction of a huge parking lot in Gowanus that comes with the added bonus of a Whole Foods Market -- the borough's first.

In addition to parking, the 68,000-square-foot store at the corner of Third Avenue and 3rd Street will feature "unique Brooklyn touches like egg-cream and gelato stations," according to a press release.

Thankfully, the national organic and natural foods retailer has not announced plans to include some cheesy Dominos-esque "Brooklyn Style Pizza" stand. read more »

Read the full press release after the jump. - Chris Shott

Be Careful What You Wish For

Observer Staff — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 07:58:26 -0400

The D.O.T.'s traffic-calming plan for Park Slope/Gowanus.

Ariella "Scoop" Cohen at The Brooklyn Papers reports that the 68,000-square-food Whole Foods gigantiplex due to open in Park Slope at Third Avenue and Third Street in spring 2008 will have a three-story 430-car parking garage.

Cohen quotes a traffic engineer as saying that as many as 1,800 cars could use the facility per hour.
It seems oxymoronic that a healthy-lifestyle brand such as Whole Foods would promote driving in a neighborhood such as Park Slope/Gowanus; but it's never been said that a little environmentalism gets in the way of capitalism in our Mayor's city.
Prepare for "health conscious" mamas eating from bags of Pirate's Booty while gunning their S.U.V.'s down Third Avenue.

-Matthew Grace

Monday: Fifth Avenue Says, "No! Wire! Hangers!"

Observer Staff — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 04:30:32 -0400

Walentas and mega-babe

Carolyne Roehm, a veteran of 740 Park and 1 Sutton Place South, was shocked--completely shocked--when she went apartment hunting. "How can you live on Fifth Avenue and have wire hangers," she asked. Listen, Mommy Dearest, why were you looking in strangers' closets in the first place? (NY Times)
David "Pied Piper of DUMBO" Walentas is offering a free decade of rent to any theater group that will hole up at his new 110 Livingston condo. What does his son say? "It can't be three kids out of NYU." (D.I./New York Magazine)
Banks are headed to the outer boroughs, because Manhattan has officially been super-saturated. Hoorah! (Crain's Premium)
Also in Crain's: Whole Foods is headed to Park West Village. Finally, the Upper West Side has a hip supermarket. (CP)
The $1.7 billion Javits Center expansion is breaking ground today. And that's really bad news because the new and improved building "will be a tempting terrorist target." Or maybe everything will be fine--as long as those 18-wheel tractor-trailers are screened. (NY Post)

Max Abelson

While East 86th Street Waits for H. and M., It’s Real-Estate DMZ

Michael Calderone — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Back in the 1970’s, when raising children in New York City was thought to be freakish and crue read more »

While East 86th Street Waits for H. and M., It's Real-Estate DMZ

Michael Calderone — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 20:00:00 -0400

Back in the 1970’s, when raising children in New York City was thought to be freakish and cruel, n read more »