At the end of May, the Staples at Morgan Avenue closed down. Leading up to the closure and in the time since, Aldi Supermarket has been angling to open up a location in the space.
Back in October at a CB 1 Land Use Committee meeting, a proposed rezoning application was presented to the committee for informational purposes per the meeting agenda — specifically for an Aldi. This rezoning would change Brooklyn Block 2817 Lot 1 (535 Morgan Avenue) from an M1-1 District to a C7-1 District property, bounded the BQE (Kosciuszko Bridge, Morgan Avenue, Lombardy Street, and Kingsland Avenue). The M1 zoning category typically allows for manufacturing, commercial, and community facility use, while C7-1 permits a range of retail, service, and office spaces (and, interestingly, amusement parks).
The rezoning has been sought by Me & Morgan LLC and Hemmer 2 LLC with representation by boutique law firm Rothkrug Rothkrug & Spector, LLP. The proposal was also presented at at wider CB 1 meeting in May. The committee voted unanimously to approve the application without conditions, but did request that developers look into providing a pedestrian entrance on Morgan
Avenue, enhanced landscaping on the property, solar paneling on the roof or a green roof, and permeable surfacing on the sidewalks and in the parking lot.
A project description doc submitted with the proposal describes the development as follows:
The Proposed Action would facilitate a new grocery store on the Development Site, which is not currently permitted in excess of 10,000 square feet. This change would occur on the eastern end of the Development Site, where existing retail establishments are located (AutoZone Auto Parts store, a Dollar Tree, and a Staples office supply store), in a one-story, 39,726 square-foot building. The new retail establishment, a grocery store (which would replace the existing Staples retailer), would occupy an approximately 20,265 square-foot of the East Retail Building on the Development Site, and would exceed the size limit currently permitted as-of-right in the M1-1 zoning district. Given that the grocery store would reoccupy a portion of an existing building, the Proposed Development would only require interior renovations to the building. However, no structural exterior changes or additional development/expansion of the existing one-story building would occur as part of the Proposed Development. The remainder of the retail building would continue to contain a mix of retailers, as present in the existing conditions.
Per the NYC Zoning portal, the application is currently in public review, and next steps would be a City Planning Commission vote, City Council review, and mayoral review. According to a lead agency letter submitted in October, the proposed build year for the project is 2027.
All submitted proposal documents can be found here.