So has Whole Foods definitively decided to pull out of its Gowanus location, as was widely reported earlier this week, or not?
Community Board 6 District Manager Craig Hammerman sent out an e-mail to the Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association listserv earlier today, writing, “In light of recent media reports, I thought you might be interested in the following memo below.”
Here’s the memo in full:
TO: Craig Hammerman
FROM: Mark Mobley
Whole Foods Market
DATE: July 10, 2009
RE: Update on Whole Foods Market’s plan in Brooklyn – “Reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated”
I am writing with just a quick update to let you know that recent reports of Whole Foods Market’s demise in Brooklyn seem to have been greatly exaggerated! As you may have seen, the Brooklyn Paper published a story this week that inaccurately suggests we have definitively decided not to pursue the development of a store on our property at 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue and further that we are planning to sell the property. This is simply not true and we have sent a letter to the Brooklyn Paper editor clarifying our position and requesting a correction.
You may recall that last Fall I sent you a memo explaining that Whole Foods Market had begun re-evaluating our plans for our property and that we would be working to identify potential development partners for a Brooklyn store. That is exactly what we have been doing in recent months and we are continuing these efforts in hopes of arriving at a potential development scenario that will enable us to finally come to Brooklyn.
Therefore, while nothing has yet been finalized and we are still not in a position to be able to share any additional information, please be assured that we will be back in touch as soon as we are able to provide more details about our plans.
Hmmm. “Potential development partners”?
One question that comes to mind: does the “potential development scenario” mentioned depend on a city-engineered, rather than a Superfund, cleanup of the canal?
Tags: Whole Foods