LOWER EAST SIDE — Trader Joe's will open a new location in 2018 inside the Essex Crossing development at the corner of Clinton and Broome streets, according to representatives of the popular grocery chain.
The tiki-themed grocer has inked a lease for a chunk of the 70,000-square-foot ground floor at 146 Clinton St., which it will share with a Planet Fitness gym. The residential portion of the building will hold 206 units, half of which will be below-market-rate housing, according to developer Delancey Street Associates.
The new outpost is being planned in response to the community's plea for an affordable supermarket throughout the Essex Crossing planning process, according to the developer and city officials.
"This new market, with its commitment to selling fresh products at good values, will be a welcome addition to a Lower East Side neighborhood that has been historically underserved by quality grocery stores," said City Councilwoman Margaret Chin in a statement.
The Clinton Street structure is only one of the Essex Crossing's nine development sites, spread across nine blocks along Delancey Street.
The project recently launched sales of its first condos to hit the market at 242 Broome St. The units range in price from $1.275 million to roughly $7 million, plus 11 homes set aside as below-market-rate, and sit atop a luxury bowling alley.
Meanwhile, another Trader Joe's may be in the works for an East Village site — the Extell Development Company told DNAinfo New York in May that the grocery chain may take over the ground floor of a mixed-use development on East 14th Street between Avenues A and B.
