![\"First](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779127990_670_1221-Spofford-Avenue-Exterior-Rendering.jpg\" "\\"First")
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday announced<\/a> that New York City\u2019s first city-owned grocery store will open next year at a new affordable housing development in the South Bronx. The store will be located at The Peninsula<\/a>, a Bronx project transforming the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in Hunts Point into a mixed-use development<\/a> with 740 affordable apartments. The announcement builds on Mamdani\u2019s campaign pledge to open five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough, and follows a plan announced last month for a store in East Harlem<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 20,000-square-foot store will improve access to affordable food in Hunts Point, where more than half of households have relied on public assistance in the past year, and 77 percent struggle to afford necessities.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking families in the Bronx have been forced to pay the price for a city that keeps getting more expensive while government looks the other way,\u201d Mamdani said. \u201cThat has to change. Our administration is putting communities like Hunts Point at the center of our work to address the affordability crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe are proud to begin this work in the South Bronx and remain committed to opening a store in every borough before the end of our first term,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The administration has selected The Peninsula to house the new store. Developed by Gilbane Development Company, Hudson Companies, and the Mutual Housing Association of New York, the five-acre, multi-phase project is revitalizing the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center.<\/p>\n Known for reports of harsh conditions and cruelty to children, the center, also known as the Bridges Juvenile Center, closed in 2011 after more than 50 years in operation following years of advocacy from criminal justice reform groups and nonprofit organizations, as 6sqft previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Overall, the mixed-use project will include 740 units of 100 percent affordable housing, more than 50,000 square feet of new public open space, 30,000 square feet of light industrial space, and over 50,000 square feet of community space.<\/p>\n The complex launched a housing lottery<\/a> earlier this month for 300 deeply affordable units at 1221 and 1225 Spofford Avenue. New Yorkers earning 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 percent of the area median income can apply<\/a> for the units, priced from $465\/month studios to $2,936\/month three-bedrooms.<\/p>\n \u201cNo family in the Bronx should have to choose between rent and groceries,\u201d Julie Su, deputy mayor for economic justice, said. \u201cThis is what public investment looks like when it is done right\u2014government setting the terms, holding to a timeline, and making sure the benefits reach the families who need them most.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, Mamdani announced plans to build a city-owned grocery store under the Park Avenue Viaduct between 111th and 116th Streets in East Harlem. The site, known as La Marqueta, was one of the city\u2019s original public markets, opened by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1936.<\/p>\n Over the years, the marketplace has struggled and shrunk in both footprint and number of vendors. According to the New York Times<\/a>, the city plans to spend $30 million on the project, which is expected to open by 2029.<\/p>\n Alongside the East Harlem announcement, Mamdani also launched the NYC Groceries Sites portal<\/a> to identify potential locations for future stores in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. Property owners with eligible sites can submit them for consideration as the program expands.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/park-ave-retail-market.jpg\")
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. \u201cPark Avenue Market being visited by families, in East Harlem.\u201d\u00a0The New York Public Library Digital Collections<\/a>. 1960-1969.<\/p>\n