Residents of Riverdale have been wondering what would come next since the long-standing Key Food supermarket closed in December, leaving the neighborhood without a walkable grocery option.<\/p>\n
Now, there is good news for the community: A new owner is set to take over the space.<\/p>\n
The former Key Food supermarket shut down after racking up dozens of Department of Buildings complaints and violations, including a moldy ceiling above the produce section.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, the place was a mess \u2014 a mess,\u201d said Theresa, a Riverdale resident. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t buy anything that wasn\u2019t in a box.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentiment was echoed by many residents, who described the market as poorly maintained. <\/p>\n
Still, some said having a supermarket nearby \u2014 even one with issues \u2014 was better than having none at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s deprived us of the local supermarket,\u201d said Ronnie, another Riverdale resident. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the best supermarket in the world, but it had everything I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to officials, Fine Fare will return as the new supermarket operator. <\/p>\n
If renovations remain on schedule, the store is expected to reopen as early as August.<\/p>\n
Residents say they are encouraged by the change but stress that major upgrades are needed before they feel comfortable shopping there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they didn\u2019t get a new refrigerator system, forget it,\u201d Theresa said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres said the property requires significant investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe property has over $300,000 in capital needs,\u201d Torres said. \u201cBut the new tenant, Fine Fare, has committed to investing millions of dollars to redevelop the property.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many elderly residents who rely on nearby shopping options because they do not drive, the news is especially significant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope it\u2019s going to be a good one,\u201d Ronnie said. \u201cAnd I hope it\u2019ll be in better shape.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents of Riverdale have been wondering what would come next since the long-standing Key Food supermarket closed in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,2823,9002,9,24,63,1778,19863,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-124469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-department-of-buildings","10":"tag-mold","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-riverdale","15":"tag-supermarket","16":"tag-the-bronx","17":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","18":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}