Retail is back in garage plan

College will add stores to new parking structure

By Manny Grossman

Manhattan College officials have announced that 11,600 square feet of space will be dedicated to retail development when construction begins on their new parking garage at West 242nd Street and Broadway at the end of the month.

The announcement, made at Community Board 8's monthly meeting on Nov. 13, has led to speculation that a "specialty" grocer like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's will occupy the space. But whether you're hoping for the exotic, the organic or just plain food, don't hold your breath, says Scott Silversten, a spokesman for Manhattan College. "Anyone moving in is way down the road," he said. "There is nothing to report on who and when."

Alison Mochizuki, a spokesman for the Trader Joes's corporation said that a location in the Bronx is "not in their twoyear plans," for store placement. She did, however, say that 11,600 square feet is an acceptable size for one of their stores, which needs anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 square feet.

When the garage was originally proposed more than a decade ago, a Pathmark supermarket was supposed to occupy 54,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor of a 200,000-square-foot garage. But last February, the college unexpectedly announced that the supermarket chain's name was being pulled from the project.

In March, the college announced that the project was still on track, but would be scaled down to reflect Pathmark's absence.

At last week's meeting, developer Paul Travis of Washington Square Partners unveiled the leaner design. The overall size has been scaled back to 170,000 square feet. Two stories of the garage have been chopped off, reducing the number of parking spots from 901 to 658. The 11,600 square feet of retail space will be offered in two parcels, at 6,000 square feet and 5,600 square feet respectively. Mr. Silversten said that if a retailer requires all 11,600 square feet, the wall separating the two could be knocked down, creating one space.

Some controversial aspects of the original design have been kept, like a driveway, via a vehicular bridge, from Manhattan College Parkway to the second floor of the garage. Community Board 8 traffic and transportation committee chairman, Brad Trebach, says he has "never felt it was appropriate for the planned garage to have a vehicular entrance or exit on Manhattan College Parkway. There is a blind curve on that hill just south of the proposed junction, and I think that it will pose an unreasonable traffic hazard," he said.

But a pedestrian bridge over Manhattan College Parkway remains the biggest sticking point, according to Board 8 chairman Tony Cassino. The community board originally approved the pedestrian bridge as a compromise because they felt the Pathmark would be a positive addition to the supermarket-starved community.

Working in conjunction with the board, Manhattan College designed the bridge to reflect concerns that the unprecedented-for- Riverdale structure would be an eyesore.

At last week's meeting, the college unveiled a somewhat transparent design utilizing a lot of glass rather than steel. In addition, the elevator "towers" on either side of the bridge were lowered in height and redesigned to fit in more with local architecture.

But the New York City Arts Commission has asked the college for a more "soaring" structure to be erected, with more lights, reflective glass and taller elevator "towers" on each end. It is a design that has community leaders scratching their heads.

"Many people wanted a transparent bridge," said Mr. Cassino, adding, "If it's got to be there, it shouldn't hit you in the face. Even Manhattan College agreed it should be as low key as possible."

"Hopefully we'll prevail and they'll go back to their original design," he added.

Mr. Trebach went further, saying that "the distraction of an obtrusive overpass would only further exacerbate the problem" of the vehicular exit on Manhattan College Parkway.

Mr. Cassino said that if the Arts Commission mandates a "soaring" design, two things will need to happen. "First, Manhattan College has to come back and work with all of us to see if there is an acceptable design."

"Second, if a design is unacceptable, they need to rethink the whole bridge."

Mr. Silversten, commenting on the bridge, said that all he could say was that the "college and the Arts Commission are currently working on a design."

Mr. Cassino pointed out that he doesn't wish to "reopen" the debate on the bridge, but "we agreed upon something vastly different. This is one of the major thoroughfares in Riverdale, we'll be looking at this for years to come."