ASTORIA — A supermarket company based in Williamsburg is expanding to Queens, with a new store slated to open next year on the Astoria waterfront.
Brooklyn Harvest Market, which operates two stores in its namesake borough on Union Avenue and North Fifth Street, will open a location in the first building of The Durst Organization's Hallets Point development, the owners announced Monday.
The supermarket mini-chain signed a lease to occupy 24,036 square feet on the ground floor of 1-02 26th Ave. at the corner of 1st Street, where Durst is currently constructing a 405-unit apartment building that's set to open in the early summer of 2018.
The future Brooklyn Harvest Market — which will be the grocer's first store in Queens — will sell "moderately priced groceries" as well as gourmet items, organic products and prepared foods, according to a press release from The Durst Organization.
Brooklyn Harvest Market did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the new store.
The supermarket will be located inside the first of seven buildings Durst is constructing on the Astoria waterfront, which will contain about 2,400 apartments total.
The promise of a new supermarket was a selling point for the project when it was first proposed several years ago, particularly to residents of the adjacent NYCHA Astoria Houses who said they wanted to see more retail options on the Hallets Peninsula.
"We wanted to bring a grocery store to the site to serve as an amenity to our residents and also the surrounding community, which currently does not have a supermarket in close proximity," Durst's president, Jonathan Durst, said in a statement.
"Our plan is not only to build new housing along the waterfront, but to foster a community and provide resources to current and future residents. This grocery store is essential to help achieve our vision for the neighborhood."
While construction on the first building at Hallets Point has been underway since the start of 2016, plans for its remaining six buildings stalled last year after the state's 421-a tax abatement for developers expired.
The rest of the project was revived after the state passed a new version of the tax break last month. Construction on second building in the development is expected to start in June, according to Durst.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on Brooklyn Harvest Market's future Astoria location.
► RELATED: What You Need to Know About the New 421-A Tax Break for Developers
► RELATED: Hallets Point Project Back on Track After State Approves Tax-Break Program
