By JOSEPH KELLARD
Construction on the Wild By Nature supermarket, a subsidiary of King Kullen that specializes in organic foods, was expected to finally begin in July, but the company still needs to get permits approved before it can put its shovels in the ground at the site on north Long Beach Road.
³We¹re still waiting for a demolition permit and a building permit,² said Ed Glackin, vice president of real estate for King Kullen. ³There were some issues with asbestos removal at the old movie house [the former Oceanside Theatre], and once those are cleared up, they¹ll be ready.²
Susan Trenkle, a spokeswoman for the Town of Hempstead, said the demolition permits were granted in March, but some objections were raised regarding the application for a building permit that Wild By Nature submitted to the town¹s buildings department on Aug. 27.
³That means that there were a number of issues that still needed to be dealt with,² Trenkle said.
Among the issues that Wild By Nature must resolve are to provide an affidavit of construction supervision, and, based on reports from the Nassau County Fire Marshal, the supermarket chain needs to indicate fire hydrant locations and code compliance, Trenkle said. ³These are some important issues that still have to be looked at,² she added.
Trenkle said Wild By Nature resubmitted its application to the town on Sept. 19. ³It has to be looked at again, and we have to make sure that everything that was asked for when it went into objections has been provided,² she said.
Trenkle said it is possible that the application could be approved soon and construction can begin within a few weeks. Glackin said approval for the permits is ³imminent,² and that he expects construction will start within a month. Glackin had said previously that it will take up to eight to 10 months to build the new 19,000-square-foot supermarket.
In addition, a 13,000-square-foot Walgreens will be built next to the supermarket, where the former movie theater and adjacent stores are located. Part of this proposal involved finding a new tenant for the building still occupied by Walgreens at Davison Avenue and Long Beach Road.
In June, Allen Rosenberg, co-owner of Alrose Group, a developer of commercial properties including the Foodtown-theater site, said he was about to sign a lease with Walgreens. Stan Schucman of Schucman Reality said that he signed a contract with Old Navy, one of the nation¹s largest retail clothing chains, to move into the existing Walgreens, at Davison Avenue and Long Beach Road.
At the time, Schucman expressed hope that all the necessary procedures would be completed to open the new Old Navy, but Sara Anderson, a spokeswoman for Gap Inc., the parent company of Old Navy, said that the company hadn¹t announced any plans to open a store in Oceanside.
Last week, Trenkle said that Old Navy has still not filed an application for the existing Walgreens¹ property.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
