RETAIL REPORT

Although many of the “mom-and-pop” stores that previously lined the West Side’s commercial strips have closed, some new chain stores have opened up in the neighborhood.

Michaels Arts and Crafts and discount clothing store TJ Maxx recently opened in the new mixed-use residential development Columbus Village, on Columbus Avenue between West 97th and 100th streets. And the old Circuit City location, at 2232 Broadway and West 80th Street, saw life this Halloween season as a costume and decorations store. A spokesman for the Friedland Properties, the building’s owner, said no lease has been signed for a new store but several proposals are being discussed.

SQUEEZED-IN SCHOOLS FIND ROOM TO GROW

Finding space in New York City is difficult for all renters, whether they are individual apartment hunters or commercial businesses, but the task is especially hard for community organizations, including schools.
Two private schools, however, recently leased space at Columbus Village, a new mixed-use development project on the Upper West Side. Columbus Village is being built near Park West Village, a middle-income development between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues and West 97th and 100th streets. And administrators at both organizations—The Mandell School and Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan Read more

WESTSIDER LAWSUIT RESCHEDULED

Two hearings have been scheduled in the lawsuit against the Columbus Village development near Park West Village after a State Supreme Court hearing on Sept. 10. An injunction hearing with the State Supreme Court was rescheduled for Oct. 15 since the judge was absent this past week, while a zoning appeal hearing with the Board of Standards and Appeals, which had previously declined to hear the case, will now take place on Oct. 28. Both community residents and elected officials turned up to support the lawsuit, which was originally filed by the group Westsiders for Public Participation and was recently amended and refiled. Residents of Park West Village are worried that the buildings at Columbus Village, 808 Columbus Ave. between West 100th and 97th streets, are not structurally sound and want a say in the development process. As of now, Columbus Village is set to have four 29-story residential buildings and 320,000 square feet of retail space.