Whenever the subject of Wal-Mart opening a big box in New York City comes up, opponents get a determined look in their eyes. The latest alarm sounded about the behemoth retailer's continued interest in a site at Albee Square in downtown Brooklyn. Specifically, at the Gallery Mall which was owned by Thor Equities until this week when the developer sold it for $125 milliion, which is $100 million more than the purchase price in 2001. Thor had planned a building up to 60 stories tall on the site. Well, the mall is going to come down and the new developer, Albee Development LLC, wants to put up a 1.8 million square foot residential-office-retail project. But an anti- Wal-Mart coalition has an agreement with the developer that there won't be a Wal-Mart. So, opponents are free to turn their attention to fighting a tear down of the mall and some big tax breaks the developer wants. The city has to sign off any plans as it owns the land under the mall.
· Wal-Mart Kept Out of Brooklyn [Wal-Mart Free NYC Blog]
· REVEALED: Wal-Mart's Secret NYC Location List [Curbed]
Filed under: