Pleasantville’s Key Food Marketplace could be replaced by a pre-K program and three retail tenants, under a proposal presented to the village Planning Commission.
The applicant has applied to change the property use at 35 Pleasantville Road, where the store is located, documents show. DS Pleasantville, a limited liability company, is seeking special permit and site plan approval for pre-K and retail tenant uses. The property is on Pleasantville Road’s north side and also bordered by Cooley Street.
The current grocery store use “is not profitable at the moment. They intend to close their operations between July and September of this year. We are coming in with a proposal to revitalize that area,” Jessica Zalin, the applicant’s lawyer, told Pleasantville planning commissioners on June 10.
Potential Goddard School pitched for part of Key Food space
Discussions were underway for the pre-K with the Goddard School, which runs programs for children under age 6, Zalin said.
The Goddard School has locations in more than 40 states, including in Westchester County’s Hastings-on-Hudson and in Connecticut’s Danbury, Darien, Fairfield, Stamford, Westport, and Wilton, according to its website.
The private pre-K would be in the building’s easternmost space, Zalin told commissioners. A fenced-in playground area would be created next to the front of the pre-K space.
“The playground features itself are still under development, so we can provide more detail on that in a future meeting,” Zalin said.
Pleasantville residents concerned about traffic, one less grocery store
Pleasantville, in northern Westchester County, is less than two square miles.
Some residents have expressed concern on a Pleasantville Facebook group about the proposal, including potentially losing the grocery store. Commenters said they would like to have another grocer, such as a Trader Joe’s, although others thought a Trader Joe’s would draw too much traffic.
Key Food includes supermarkets Key Food, The Food Emporium, Food Universe, Food Dynasty, Superfresh, with stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Florida, the Key Food website says.
In Pleasantville, the proposal for the property includes 92 parking spaces, up from the current 91.
Each retail business would have an entrance with aluminum doors.
“There are no substantial renovations to the building that are required to accommodate this change,” Zalin said — no change in height, building footprint, property setbacks, building area.
A public hearing will be scheduled once the applicant provides the Planning Commission with more information, commissioners made clear on June 10.
Michael McKinney covers grocery store, consumer and retail news as well as high-end real estate in the Lower Hudson Valley, New York, for The Journal News/USA Today Network.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Proposal would replace Pleasantville Key Food with pre-K, retailers
Reporting by Michael P. McKinney, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Michael P. McKinney, Rockland/Westchester Journal News | USA TODAY Network
