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Organic Market Could Add Ninth Floor at Prospect-Lefferts Gardens Project

 A Fresh Fanatic grocery store is set to move into the ground floor of this new building, now under construction, at 31 Lincoln Rd. in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.
A Fresh Fanatic grocery store is set to move into the ground floor of this new building, now under construction, at 31 Lincoln Rd. in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.
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Rendering/Anderson Associates

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS — A popular Clinton Hill organic market is set to move into a new Lincoln Road residential development next year.

The addition would make it possible for the building’s developer to add another floor to the project through a city incentive, its owners said.

Fresh Fanatic, currently located at 88 Washington Ave. on the border of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, is planning to take over 11,000 square feet of space on the ground floor of 31 Lincoln Rd next September,  said the shop’s owners, brothers Andrew and David Goldin..

The new location is a large L-shaped building now under construction between Flatbush and Ocean avenues in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.

“Our goal is to find underserved areas in Brooklyn that have a need for our kind of store,” Andrew told DNAinfo New York.

Together with the developer of the building, Thomas Anderson, and attorney Ron Mandel, the pair presented their plan to Brooklyn Community Board 9 Monday night, explaining to the group that they planned to take advantage of the city’s “Food Retail Expansion to Support Health” (FRESH) Program.

The initiative was implemented in 2009 to bring full-service grocery stores to neighborhoods lacking healthy food options.

Andrew Goldin, right, of Fresh Fanatic presents the store's plan at Brooklyn Community Board 9 on Monday night.

If approved by the Department of City Planning, Mandel said, the FRESH Program will allow 31 Lincoln Rd. to add up to 15 feet of height by including Fresh Fanatic on the first floor.

The developer plans to add nine feet eight inches, bringing the total building height to nine floors instead of its originally planned eight.

“It’s a certification that this space applies to the FRESH requirements and, second, authorization allowing us to increase beyond the maximum building height to accommodate the fresh food store,” Mandel explained to the CB9 members and meeting attendees, many of whom were  upset by the change in plans.

“I don’t see that there’s really a need for … a store that is going to provide many of the services we already receive,” said William Henry, a longtime Lincoln Road resident, pointing out that a Western Beef grocery store, Associated supermarket and large organic bodega are already in business within walking distance of the proposed Fresh Fanatic location.

Another Prospect-Lefferts Gardens resident, Suki Cheong, railed against the FRESH Program itself.

“We do not think that the incentive for supermarkets should be linked to new construction. There’s no reason for that,” she said.

The board does not have a final say. The developer needs approval from the Department of City Planning only and presented the project to the board to receive input and comments, not a green light.

In response to residents’ concerns, Andrew Goldin played up his store’s offerings: fresh produce, grass-fed beef, prepared foods of all kinds, local brands and “more affordable,” non-organic products, as well.

He also said 25 to 30 people would be hired to work there, with a priority given to local workers. He added that, in his experience, lots of people in the area seem to want Fresh Fanatic on their block.

“We get tons of residents from your neighborhood coming in [to the Washington Avenue store] begging us to have something like that over here,” he said to the group.

“They’ve been telling me there’s not a lot of choices for good, local, fresh produce.”

The shop will likely open next September, said developer Anderson, pending approval from DCP.

The Lincoln Road building has already topped out at eight stories, he said, and will be built to nine as soon as the Fresh Fanatic plan gets the go-ahead.