Gowanus Whole Foods: Open (Again) with Yellow Tape

The spit-and-tape fence at the toxic Gowanus Whole Foods site took a hit during last weekend’s windstorm. A week later, it’s still down, although someone has thoughtfully added yellow “caution” tape to the wreckage. The good news is that no one even has to duck in order to go for a walk on the polluted site. (It may be one of the most photographed, wide-open construction sites in Brooklyn at this point.) On other fronts: it would seem that the clock is rapidly ticking down on any possible 2009 opening for a supermarket, given that permits aren’t in place, key state approvals are lacking and the site remains abandoned.

Organic Bok Choy on the Gowanus May Take a While

Don’t expect to see construction equipment soon at the big, polluted site at Third Avenue and Third Street where Whole Foods is planning to build a large grocery. Our friend Gabby Warshawer at Brownstoner has been talking to state officials and found that it could be a while. While the cleanup plan for the toxic-laden site has been approved, she reports that the Department of Environmental Conservation is “still reviewing Whole Foods’ application to build on a wetlands…Whole Foods must prove that the store’s location next to the canal won’t adversely affect the general public and that the supermarket won’t harm the canal by virtue of its existence next to the waterway.” There is so much irony laced throughout the Whole Foods Gowanus proposal from building a store on a floodplain that will be mostly underground to selling organic produce from a site laden with toxins that it’s almost impossible to know where to start. So, which will come first: a full blown recession and a decline in the real estate market or the start of work on the much-delayed store? Remember the tote bags Whole Foods was handing out last summer at Celebrate Brooklyn that said “opening in 2008”?

Gowanus Whole Foods Site Photo Tour

This is the Gowanus Whole Foods site. We took advantage of its always open to the public status to shoot a bunch of photos. Some are below for viewing on this snowy Friday.

Gowanus Whole Foods Still Faces a Few Hurdles

Last week, the Department of Buildings issued the first permit for the planned Gowanus Whole Foods on Third Street. The permit, which was first reported by Brownstoner, would allow for some work on the foundation. The Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus group, which opposes construction of the big project, sent an email to Community Board 6 pointing out that the project still doesn’t have the go-ahead from the Department of Environmental Conservation without which it can’t start construction. Here’s some of the email:

The bloggs announced this week that the DOB has granted permits for Whole Foods to begin construction. The DOB did approve their Underpinning and Shoring application but has not approved their zoning and architectural application for the building…The concern here is that, while the DOB has permitted the Shoring and Underpinning work, Whole Foods has yet to complete their State DEC Wetlands Application…Once Whole Foods completes their wetlands application the DEC will hold a 30 day public comment period before issuing permits. The DEC office stated, today, that if Whole Foods begins any work before they have a wetlands permits, “the DEC will shut them down”.

The somewhat toxic site, by the way, is still open for public tours and viewing via its perpetually open flimsy fence.

So, Will Work Be Starting on the Whole Foods Site?

Remember the groundbreaking for the Gowanus Whole Foods? That was way back in 2006. Since then, the site has largely sat abandoned, although it has provided many opportunities for strolls on the frequently open property. Yesterday, our friend Gabby Warshawer, who has been keeping close tabs on the development, reported on Brownstoner that the Department of Building has issued a permit for foundation work on the 68,000 square foot store. She wrote that it marks “a huge symbolic moment in the project’s—and neighborhood’s—history. It’s been a long time coming…” Brownstoner notes that there is still no permit for the building itself or any sign that work is about to start.

GOWANUS BONUS: Some “available” signs have been spotted on Gowanus properties that are slated to the future home of the Toll Brothers big Gowanus development. The buildings are not on the market, however. The developers are looking to rent some of the space to tenants on a month-to-month basis, we’re told.

Gowanus Whole Foods Site: Open Again!

Brooklyn’s favorite somewhat toxic playground is open to the public again. The flimsy fence at the Whole Foods site on Third Street has been opened up again by vandals. We stopped by on Saturday and a curious people were taking tours of the site over the weekend. Will it be “repaired” quickly, or will the site be left open again for days, if not weeks? Will a lot more cool photos be posted on flickr?

Whole Foods Weekly Update: Toxic Site Still Open to Public

Some things change and some things don’t. One of the things, recently, that doesn’t change at all is the ability of both adults and children to go exploring in the environmentally-challenged, and currently abandoned, Whole Foods site in Gowanus. It’s been open again and again. Of course, it’s just an empty lot and it affords photographers some different angles on the Gowanus, but it’s also a contaminated property that wasn’t fully cleaned up before the grocer put the brakes on the project. Perhaps the lack of a secure fence is one way the big chain is trying to show the property is actually safe. If kids can hang out there, what the problem with selling organic grapefruit there? The most recent building plans filed by Whole Foods with the Department of Buildings were rejected in December.

Gowanus Whole Foods Year End Special: Come On In

The abandoned Gowanus Whole Foods site closes out the year the way it spent much of the last half of 2007: wide open to visitors that want to check it out. The environmentally-challenged site got some attention in November when Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and others criticized the grocer for maintaining a public hazard. Well, attention from public officials can have a very short half life. The site was closed up for a couple of weeks, but the shoddy fence has been more open than closed ever since. (A reader notes that even the portable toilets on the site have been removed, which we suppose is one way of economizing.) Advice to the grocer that own the toxic property that gets many, many, many visits: invest in a work crew, buy some new wood, get a lot of nails, install a sturdy new fence around the property & keep an eye on it. Will Brooklyn’s biggest toxic playground remain to entertain in 2008? Keep watching. We will.

Gowanus Whole Foods (Site) Open (Again), Sign Gone

Vandals seem intent on make sure the environmentally-challenged Whole Foods site in Gowanus stays open, as yet another opening has appeared in the fence. This is the third or fourth time the fence has been open at the abandoned site. Interestingly, the Department of Buildings did check up on a complaint logged on October 20. They came by on November 27 and the inspector wrote “no defects observed” in the fence, parts of which seem to be held up with tape and gum. What is especially interesting, however, is that the sign identifying the site as belonging to Whole Foods is also gone. It seems to have vanished sometime in the last couple of weeks. Stolen by vandals? Or taken down by the grocer? Many of the expired buildings permits at the site have also been ripped down. No permits have been issued for the big project, which would place most of the grocery store underground. Such a building is allowable on the site without any special permits. The Department of Buildings has rejected several Whole Foods applications, most recently on September 19. Despite the abandoned look of the site, on which a few parts of car bodies have now appeared, there is no sense that Whole Foods has given up on the project, just that there’s a lack of movement and no one is looking after the property.

Open Gowanus Whole Food Site: Now Closed

Given that we’ve featured the Gowanus Whole Foods fence when it was open again last week, it’s only fair to note that it’s been closed up again. How long it stays that way is anyone’s guess. The site has been in a semi-abandoned state for more than a year, with only a burst of demolition activity in late summer. In the meantime, the fence has been knocked down by both the wind and vandals, opening up the toxic (and only partly decontaminated site) to public access. So, how long before the site is open again?