Mt. Kisco Presses for All Conditions to Be Met Before New ShopRite Opens

ShopRite is targeting an Oct. 26 opening for its new Mount Kisco store, but the village’s Planning Board expressed skepticism last week that the applicant will be able to comply with all conditions by that date.

Representatives for the supermarket chain and Diamond Properties, the owner of the complex at 333 N. Bedford Rd. where the store will be located, requested last week that a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy be issued in time to comply with ShopRite’s schedule. They also provided the Planning Board with an update on the outstanding items that need to be completed at the site.

However, board Co-chair Crystal Pickard pointed to the language of the site plan approval that stipulated that no conditional, temporary or permanent Certificate of Occupancy may be granted for the supermarket to open and operate “until there is full compliance with the plans and conditions approved herein.”

The key provisions are the realignment of the complex’s northern entrance with the access point to Brookside condominiums across the street, installation of the new traffic signal at the complex’s northern entrance, completion of a fieldhouse at the property and the demolition of an existing structure to allow for the realignment.

Pickard told Diamond Properties Vice President of Operations Jay Black that ShopRite’s timeline appears to be “very optimistic.”

“I have to say it’s really disappointing that driving by this week there was still a building there where it needs to be an entrance there,” Pickard said. “ShopRite can’t open until that driveway is completely finished and the traffic light is functional.”

Black, who estimated that about 98 percent of the work on the store is finished, said ShopRite’s contractor is working with the state Department of Transportation, vendors, the project engineer and other parties to make sure the realignment of the 333 N. Bedford Rd. complex’s northern entrance is done as soon as possible.

“We understand that that’s probably one of the biggest technical challenges for the project that we’ve been working through,” Black said.

He also said that there would be substantial completion of the fieldhouse, which will serve the complex’s athletic fields, because it is not a complicated piece of the project. Black expects the shell of the structure to be finished by the end of October, and there is infrastructure, including plumbing, already in place.

Michael Schoendorf, the vice president of ShopRite’s parent company, said the timing for a late October opening is important for the supermarket. While the company has been lining up employees for the store for three to four months, it will take about a month to get the store set up with products on the shelves, he said.

“We need about four solid weeks to bring us and the vending community in there to get the store set,” Schoendorf said.

While everyone would like to see the supermarket operating as soon as possible, Planning Board member Michael Bonforte stressed how crucial it is for the road realignment and traffic signal to be operational for the sake of the village, motorists who drive on North Bedford Road and the residents at Brookside condominiums.

“There’s a lot going on and you’re asking for a helluva lot to do a TCO,” Bonforte said. “So it’s like we actually want to do that. There’s nobody here who doesn’t want to do that, but there’s so many other pieces that have to fall in place. I know you have a team working on it.”

The village’s planning consultant, Jan Johannessen, said if the board entertained one of the three types of certificates of occupancy without full compliance of the conditions, it would need to amend the approved site plan.

Black appealed to the board that by having three different forms of Certificate of Occupancy available, which cover different stages of completion, it has some level of discretion.

Without any Certificate of Occupancy, ShopRite would not be able to stock the store.

However, Pickard echoed the board’s sentiment when it included the condition that no Certificate of Occupancy be issued until all work at the site is complete.

“You’re making good progress and hopefully you’re there when you need to be,” Pickard said.

ShopRite has been eyeing a late 2024 opening since its approval in the summer of 2023 because the lease on its nearby Bedford Hills store expires on Dec. 31, and the company wants to transition to the new location before that date.