Not many grocery stores can claim cult followings, certainly not in Brooklyn, where the only options in some neighborhoods tend to be oversize bodegas carrying expired goods or overpriced green grocers full of kale, quinoa and craft beer.
Wegmans, the family-owned, Rochester-based chain of 85 stores concentrated in the Great Lakes region and the Washington Beltway, has that kind of following, inspiring fan websites, hashtags, T-shirts, even a high school musical about a couple who finds love in the aisles. The company is poised to open its first New York City store, and it has selected one of the most ripe locations: the derelict Admiral’s Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
After a decade of fighting over whether to save the Civil War-era homes of Admiral’s Row along Flushing Avenue, the Navy Yard’s board approved a deal for the redevelopment of the site on Tuesday. Several buildings will be knocked down and replaced with Wegmans, other stores, industrial space and parking. Steiner NYC, creator of the Navy Yard’s 25-acre film studio, will develop the complex, set to open in 2017.
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