Community Meeting on Proposed Development at 5th Avenue Key Food

You may have seen the news that a developer is planning a new residential development on the site of the Key Food supermarket on 5^th Avenue (at Baltic Street) in Park Slope.  Like many of you, I am very concerned about the potential loss of yet another of the area’s large, more-affordable grocery stores. Together with local advocates, we’re doing everything we can to keep a neighborhood supermarket at this location.

My office—along with the Fifth Avenue Committee, local civic organizations and elected officials—have asked the developer, Avery Hall Investments, to meet with the community, present their plans for the Key Food site, and address your questions and concerns:  

The Key Food itself is a result of community organizing in the 1970s and 1980s, when local leaders came together to transform the site into a neighborhood grocery store and 56 townhouses for moderate income home buyers and renters. This organizing is part of what helped to create the Fifth Avenue Committee. Today, the Key Food is one of the few remaining affordable supermarkets in the area.

The developer has said they plan to build within the existing zoning regulations, which permit a maximum of 6 stories, and have agreed to make 25% of the units affordable. Community Board 6 will have an opportunity to weigh in on the plans, which need to be approved by the City Planning Commission.

Thank you to so many of you who have already contacted my office with your concerns about the site.

The meeting is co-sponsored by the Fifth Avenue Committee, Park Slope Neighbors, Forth on Fourth (a Committee of the Park Slope Civic Council), the Fifth Avenue BID, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), along with Community Board 6, City Council Member Steve Levin, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery.

Hope to see you there,

-Brad