UPDATE: The post below came out on Aug 8, 2023, on Aug 18th we provide the following update… The petitioner for this plan, has decided to make ‘changes to both the site plan and the building’, this is in response to feedback the building owner had received. We feel it is likely because we called them out on their bullshit about designing it with TJ’s in mind. Their words were total bullshit, when they told the Coburnville-Tripoli Neighborhood Association (CTNA) that the the plan the whole time was to keep TJ’s. Money hungry scumbag pigs these developers, the Haranas are. This doesn’t mean that the new plan will adhere to their prior promises to the CTNA, and FU will be watching and standing up for TJ’s every step of the way.
TJ’s is Dead??? As predicted, the developer had NO INTENT to rent to TJ’s Neighborhood Market when they designed the new mega-apartment. The Health Department agrees with FU’s analysis.
Originally posted 8/8/2023
In late 2022 FU discovered that the owner of the building housing TJ’s Neighborhood Market – had planned on tearing down the building to replace it with another mega-apartment. TJ’s themselves learned about the plan from FU. The owner of TJ’s later took to Facebook to tell us that they spoke to the owner, and they assured them that they could return to the space when it was rebuilt.
FU responded with a suggestion that it is unlikely that that was remotely true.
Today we learned that the health department has doubts that TJ’s will be able to return to the tiny space that the owner of the business believes was designed for them.
This is all about money. This is all about bang for the buck. The building is zoned multi-use, and in order to make the most money off apartment, and capitalize on the new multi-use zoning rules allowing higher residential density and height, the new building must have some retail space. If more space was earmarked for retail, that would yield less parking, and that in turn would limit the allowable number of apartment units allowed.
In this email by the Environmental Health Manager Michael Mendez, we learn that there are several concerns he has about the plan for TJ’s or any food service business going into this tiny space… confirming that this space was not designed for the needs of a restaurant.
To TJ’s market, your landlord the Harness Group lied to you, and to the neighborhood association in order to get greater Coburnville’s support for their $$$-grab plan.
This should have been apparent to TJ’s when the landlord applied to get permission to demolish the building without telling TJ’s about it.
You had them all fooled… all but us.
This whole multi–use zoming thing seems like a scam. It doesn’t seem to be useful to have a small storefront in these smaller apartment buildings. Maybe if it was a large building, and the tenants could support a convivence store in it, it might be useful, but a small crappy space out of the way, WITH NO PARKING is a waste of time. They might as well turn it into yet another low income apartment and be done with it. I think the town should take a new look at the whole concept and decide if the rules needed to be tightened up, or if it should just be tossed out.