Diamond Properties Eyes Move of Bedford ShopRite to Mt. Kisco
Diamond Properties has signed a lease to move the Bedford Hills ShopRite to Mount Kisco but the applicant will need a zoning text amendment from the Village Board for that to happen.
The 70,000-square-foot supermarket would relocate from its current location at 747 Bedford Rd. to the Diamond Properties complex at 333 N. Bedford Rd. The complex, called The Park, is zoned light manufacturing (LM).
Developer Jim Diamond’s request was outlined in a petition submitted last month to the Village Board.
He is asking that permitted uses in the zone be expanded to allow for businesses under 80,000 square feet to allow ShopRite to be move in. Diamond is also looking to eliminate a requirement in the zone that requires Grand Prix New York to be a membership club.
The Park straddles Mount Kisco and Bedford with 31 acres in Mount Kisco and the remaining 6.5 acres in Bedford. The main building was the site of the Grand Union headquarters for 40 years. That building was empty and in disrepair for about a decade after Grand Union moved out in the mid-1990s.
Diamond Properties purchased the structure and redeveloped it with various commercial uses, including Grand Prix New York.
“The redevelopment was initially very successful, but market changes have negatively impacted our ability to lease space,” Diamond stated.
In 2016, Wine Enthusiast, which occupied 20 percent of the building, moved its warehouse operations to New Jersey. Earlier this year, Hemato-Centric Life Institute and It’s About Time, a STEM education-related company, vacated the site as well. Early in 2018, Cosentino is scheduled to close its marble and quartz showroom and warehouse.
Since its lighting contract for the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge project is coming to an end, Seaport Lighting is also planning to leave, Diamond said.
Diamond noted that there was 100 percent occupancy of his building in 2015, but the occupancy rate, if there is no new leasing, would fall to 57 percent by the end of 2018. To help fill a portion of the vacancy, Diamond said he’d like to move ShopRite to the property.
The Village Board officially received Diamond Properties’ petition last Monday. Mayor Gina Picinich said a joint Village Board and Planning Board work session would be held to hear Diamond’s proposal “to figure out the best way to address it.” A meeting date has not been announced.
Village Attorney Whitney Singleton said Diamond has yet to provide the village with a formal conceptual application and an Environmental Assessment Form, which would be required before a joint meeting could be held.
