grocery stores

photo by Kevin

From the office of Councilmember Zachary Parker, Ward 5:

“The past few days have been spent in conversation with the developer to address community concerns.

Councilmember Parker takes neighbors’ concerns seriously and is committed to holding Jair Lynch accountable for delivering on community benefits in this vital development. We are especially committed to advocating for neighbors to ensure the development includes a grocer and senior affordable housing, as well as robust retail options and other amenities. For what it is worth, we have found Jair Lynch to be a responsive and fair partner.

Based on the developer’s conversations with our office and the community over the last few days, they are formally submitting an updated PUD modification filing to the Zoning Commission. This revision removes all requested flexibility to convert retail to residential from the application in Parcels 2 and 4, including requested flexibility in the grocer space. While the developer maintains that the flexibility would have provided more long-term certainty given that retail markets are presently unpredictable, they have chosen to remove it based on conversations with our office and neighbors’ concerns and because they have a signed lease with a grocer and are committed to moving forward.

From Jair Lynch: “Should this grocer lease terminate, we are prepared to re-engage with the Zoning Commission and the community to adjust the plan accordingly. Please note, if ‘the back-up scenario’ is necessary, re-engaging with the relevant parties will likely take 12-18 months to reset the project.”

Here are some quick updates on the details: (more…)