NEW YORK — Developers have broken ground for a new $23 million Stop & Shop supermarket that will anchor a new mixed-use community built on long-vacant land in Rockaway Beach in the borough of Queens.

The store will be part of the Averne By The Sea development and is financed in part by $5.5 million in tax-exempt bonds made available though the federal stimulus program, Gerry Romski, a project manager for developer Benjamin-Beechwood, told SN.

Once a vibrant waterfront community, Averne fell into decay in the 1950s and was designated as an Urban Renewal Project in 1964. The project is to include 2,300 units of housing and a new school, city officials said.

The 55,000-square-foot Stop & Shop will anchor retail offerings and is expected to open in 2011, Romski said.

“We are proud to be a part of the economic resurgence of this community with the construction of a supermarket that will combine the latest in customer services, energy conservation and consumer value under one roof,” Faith Weiner, a spokeswoman for Stop & Shop, Quincy, Mass., said in a statement.

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