Waiting, Not So Patiently, for a Grocer to Take the Next Step

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/nyregion/thecity/03cita.html?oref=login



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April 3, 2005
MANHATTANVILLE

Waiting, Not So Patiently, for a Grocer to Take the Next Step
By SETH KUGEL

he tale of Citarella, the upscale fish and food market, and the West Harlem factory it had its eye on began nearly six years ago.

The West Harlem complex of buildings, which stretch along one block of West 126th Street, was once home to a Taystee cake factory, long abandoned. In 1999, the buildings were sold to Citarella, which planned to convert them into a food processing plant. The store also announced plans to open a branch in adjacent retail space on West 125th Street, where Taystee once sold day-old bread.

The local community board, which had hoped that much-needed housing would be built on the site, objected to the plan. But there seemed to be an upside. For a moment, local residents savored the mouth-watering prospect of being able to buy Tasmanian ocean trout, Cajun catfish and tuna burgers. In bringing epicurean offerings to the neighborhood, Citarella seemed poised to follow, albeit in far more modest fashion, the footsteps of its West Side neighbor Fairway, which in 1995 expanded north into a 35,000-square-foot space.

Tasmanian trout, not to mention the Cajun catfish and tuna burgers, have never arrived. At least not yet. Today, the decaying industrial buildings, which occupy much of West 126th Street between Morningside and Amsterdam Avenues, look as forlorn as ever.

Citarella's president, Joseph Gurrera, could not be reached for comment about the company's plans. Janel Patterson, a spokeswoman for the city's Economic Development Corporation, said the company still planned to open the retail store, in May, and intended to propose building housing on the factory site. The company's current plans were reported in The Columbia Spectator, the university's student newspaper, on March 23.

According to Ms. Patterson, the Citarella project stalled for several reasons, among them higher-than-expected costs. Because of the delays, however, Maritta Dunn, who leads Community Board 9's economic development committee, has concluded that Citarella has proven itself unworthy of Harlem.

"They have consistently put off doing this store," she said. "If you're in the retail business, and from 1999 to now, you could not open a little retail space like that, why would I trust you to do anything else in the neighborhood?"