Lafayette Avenue Key Food Closure May Go To Court, Says Public Advocate Letitia James

Public Advocate Letitia James told local residents that the managers of the Key Food at 325 Lafayette Avenue have decided to take the issue of the supermarket’s impending closure to New York State Supreme Court, but a two managers at the store told us by phone that they “are not suing” and “aren’t in court right now.”

James’ announcement that “the lease has expired and they’re taking it to court” was met with applause by those gathered at the April meeting of the Society for Clinton Hill.

However, a manager — who requested not to be named — told us that although they are not suing, they are “fighting for a lease renewal” with new property owner Slate Property Group. The latest 20-year lease expired a few months ago and the neighborhood supermarket is currently on a month-to-month lease.

“So there are no answers yet, and nothing we can really do,” the manager said. “We appreciate the community fighting, but we’ve just got to sit and wait. We’re pretty sure [the fight for a lease renewal is] going to have to go to court, but we have to wait and see.”

The owners of the adjacent New Lucky Laundromat are “not fighting” the planned store closure, demolition, and development of an eight-story mixed-use residential building, James also said at the meeting.

Slate principal David Schwartz and landlord Richard Grobman have previously expressed interest in possibly keeping a supermarket on the ground floor of the new building, but have not committed to the prospect. Grobman told a packed town hall back in February that they “are currently in talks with “interested parties,”” but could not guarantee anything.

It would make sense to have a supermarket there as the site is surrounded by nearly 1,000 public housing residents, many of them seniors with limited mobility, as well as additional residents, new and old, in surrounding homes and apartments that are not within easy walking distance of other affordable grocery options.

Leslie Sierra, president of the Pratt Towers Board of Directors, previously expressed confusion at the logistics of bringing more people into the neighborhood while removing crucial amenities such as access to supermarkets, hardware stores, laundry services and other small businesses.

“I’m perplexed,” she said. “There are a lot more buildings, but no additional services.”