Stimulus Funds Finance $23M Stop & Shop in Queens

JON SPRINGER

NEW YORK — Doors opened late last month at a new $23 million Stop & Shop supermarket anchoring a new mixed-use community built on long-vacant land in Rockaway Beach in the borough of Queens.

The store is part of the Averne By The Sea development and was 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. The store will make fresh produce and other products available to residents who have had to buy them in other neighborhoods, according to Congressman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.

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 at the project.

“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.