On Tuesday, the city's Board of Standards and Appeals will vote on whether to approve a special permit for Whole Foods’ proposed 52,000-square-foot store, which "is more than five times bigger than the zoning regulations currently allow," the Times reports. Those who attended public hearings on the matter believe that the board is likely to vote to approve the Whole Foods, much to the dismay of the folks at the Gowanus Institute, who have proposed this alternative for the site:
GI proposes a manufacturing complex totaling 370,000 SF comprised of two interconnected buildings—one serving the culinary arts and food production and the second building serving the creative and green industries. In tandem with the new buildings, GI proposes a program dedicated to vocational training, business incubation and support services for entrepreneurs in the culinary and creative industries. Facilities for these services would be on site in addition to space for research & development and related commercial uses.
One of the two buildings, with 75,000 sq ft on four stories facing Third Avenue, could be developed and operated by WFM as a state-of-the-art commercial food production and training facility as well as a kitchen incubator.
The Gowanus Institute says their proposal would create 950 new jobs, and Whole Foods would still get to operate there, selling only local products and running the kitchen training facility. Whole Foods counters that they already sell local products, and a spokesman says the new store would also produce 350 jobs, he said, 262 of them full-time. "We want to be a local community center," the Whole Foods rep tells the Times.
That's nice, but record producer Martin Bisi (the same Martin Bisi who took the infamous Sleepy Cop photo last week!) is worried the Whole Foods will drive up rents. Bisi, who operates his recording studio near the site, tells the Times, "My issue with this is what happens five years down the road, maybe even a decade. There’s a lot of paranoia of people around here because we’ve seen in other parts of the city the process of what happens." But at least we know that if the Whole Foods ever opens, Bisi will be keeping them on their toes.