City takes prospective vendors for Mamdani’s planned $30M NYC-owned grocery store on tour — of vacant lot

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Key points

• The store at La Marqueta – a historic public marketplace – is projected to cost $30 million and open its doors in 2029.
• The entire project will cost Major Apple taxpayers $70 million to build, with the first store slated to open in The Bronx next year.
• The bidders wore hardhats on the city Economic Development Corporation-led tour to the under-the-Metro-North viaduct site next to La Marqueta, despite no work actually being done yet.
• Once in office, Mamdani pledged a core basket of staples, not including alcohol, would be sold at a 30% discount – although details remain vague.
• "When I initially looked into the opportunity, I assumed the scope would be limited to procurement and delivery, " the distributor informed The Post Wednesday.

Major Apple office-holders took prospective bidders on a pathetic tour Wednesday of a trash-strewn empty lot in East Harlem where Mayor Zohran Mamdani's planned $30 million city-owned grocery store is supposed to become reality.

Meanwhile, the bidders wore hardhats on the city Economic Development Corporation-led tour to the under-the-Metro-North viaduct site next to La Marqueta, despite no work actually being done yet.

They stayed tightlipped regarding their visit, with one telling The Post they're not even sure their outfit will submit a bid. Others flat-out declined to comment, leaving the tour's organizers to hype up the project – while implicitly acknowledging it's a giant experiment.

"We are very cautiously optimistic about this potential project and what this potential project means to the community and food deserts, " remarked Phillip Grant, founder and CEO of business consulting firm Phillip Grant & Associates.

"It has to be a full, transparent partnership. We additionally have to secure the public involved. There's other things we have to think regarding: market forces, transportation, weather. So we have to ensure whatever model an operator like myself or a group that we put together build, that it can be flexible enough to adapt to those reservations."

As Grant talked regarding "food deserts, " he stood a stone's throw from American Deli Mini Mart along Park Avenue – where owner Elvis Arias, 33, sells sandwiches and worries concerning losing business to the planned city-owned store.

For context, the new competition from city administration is a slap in the face, especially as taxes are so high, Arias stated.

City Hall would have to offer him a tobacco license to keep the deli competitive, he stated.

"I'm lucky I have the beer!" Elvis quipped. "They won't have beer over there."

Mamdani promised during his mayoral campaign to open five city-owned supermarkets, one in each borough, that would support bring down the cost of groceries.

Notably, the entire project will cost Major Apple taxpayers $70 million to build, with the first store slated to open in The Bronx next year.

Meanwhile, the store at La Marqueta – a historic public marketplace – is projected to cost $30 million and open its doors in 2029.

In the meantime, city Economic Development Corporation are soliciting bids – or requests for proposals – from prospective vendors.

One wholesale food distributor who attended a video session over the bids observed that the city preferred a vendor that can run the whole shebang.

"When I initially looked into the opportunity, I assumed the scope would be limited to procurement and delivery, " the distributor informed The Post Wednesday. "However, the City is requiring a single operator to manage the entire project."

Waverly Neer, senior vice president of groceries at the project-leading EDC, cast the tour as productive.

"We had community members, we had local organizations, and prospective operators here, " she remarked. "It's really reaffirming that people are excited about this opportunity."

For now, city takes prospective vendors for Mamdani's planned $30M NYC-owned grocery store on remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.