Proposed Target would reduce Astoria parking

Astoria resident Jesse Cerrotti attended a May demonstration opposing a Target in the neighborhood. Eagle file photos by Jonathan Sperling.

By David Brand

A proposed Target retail store in Astoria wouldn’t just force out a longtime grocery store, it could also put a serious squeeze on neighborhood parking.

The retail giant plans to open a 61,366-square-foot  “small-format store” at the site of a Key Food on 31st Street by 2022. A 2018 Department of Buildings determination known as a Zoning Review Determination, or ZRD1, would enable Target to only create 60 parking spaces and zero additional loading docks, as opposed to 215 spaces and four loading docks based on the proposed square footage, according to a review of the application by land use attorney Adam Rothkrug. 

The ZRD1 also allowed the company to apply for waiver to forgo the 60 spaces. The DOB waived the parking requirement in 2018 after the Department of Transportation determined that it could not place a necessary curb cut at the site. “Roadway geometrics, area-wide street congestion, heavy truck traffic and pedestrian activity” made the curb cut unfeasible, according to a letter the DOT sent the DOB.

A person familiar with the negotiations told the Eagle that the DOB typically follows DOT recommendations related to parking and loading in Astoria.

The DOB has not yet approved the final plan, but Rothkrug’s analysis found that the building owner misrepresented the proposed construction in the 2018 application, leading to the ZRD1 and the parking waiver.

Key Food deli manager Laura Stevenson implored the supermarket’s property owner to retain the supermarket instead of enabling Target to construct a new retail store at the 31st Street during a May rally in Astoria. Eagle file photo by Jonathan Sperling.

“This would create more congestion in an already congested area,” said a spokesperson for the Key Food, which wants to remain in business at the site.

Though Target would demolish the existing site and construct a new building, the project was proposed as an “enlargement” of the existing building — meaning it would add to the current structure and continue the building’s grandfathered exemptions for parking requirements, Rothkrug wrote. The designation would allow the owner to create fewer parking spaces than it would if it were designated as a new building. 

Rothkrug’s review determined that the developer “erroneously refers to the proposed development as an ‘enlargement’ to an existing two-story commercial building” and thus “wrongfully excluded the existing floor area ... from inclusion in calculations related to required parking.”

Councilmember Costa Constantinides said he supports Key Food remaining at the location and criticized the way the DOB and DOT handled the application and request for a parking waiver.

“City agencies should be clear and transparent with the parties to make sure all municipal rules are followed to the letter,” Constantinides said.

Michael Hirschhorn, president of Jenel Management Corp., which is listed as the building owner in the DOB filings, said he was “not aware of any waiver.”

Hirschhorn said that the parking at the location would remain “as it is,” in a municipal lot behind the building.

For its part, Key Food doesn’t want to leave and is willing to compromise with the building owner and with Target.

“It’s a heartbreak to take away a local supermarket. We’re not looking for anything that’s unreasonable,” a spokesperson for the Key Food said.

“Target could put a 30,000 square foot building upstairs. If we had to compete with Target, we could do it. But we could complement Target,” the spokesperson said. “Just to tear a perfectly good building down is not right.” 

Community members and local leaders have also opposed the arrival of the Target at the expense of Key Food.

“We’re here because union jobs are the economic anchors of our community. We need to protect the good jobs that are here before our communities continue to be built like strip malls,” said State Sen. Jessica Ramos during a May rally. “This is also about protecting the character of our neighborhood.”