Whole Foods Abandons Plans for Gowanus Store

Whole Foods has decided against a site near the Gowanus Canal on Third Street and near Third Avenue. The Brooklyn Paper had the story first (I think).

The grocery chain, known for its high-end food and prices to match, said on Wednesday that it does still hope to come to Brooklyn, but it won’t be at its polluted parcel at the corner of Third Street.

“Whole Foods does not have immediate plans to open in Brooklyn,” said company spokeswoman Mara Engel Weleck, who suggested that the land would be sold.

Whole Foods would have become part of a growing gourmet movement in Brooklyn, joining such big-time grocers as Fairway and Trader Joe’s to hawk expensive edibles to the borough’s well-heeled consumers.

But its proposed site between tony Park Slope and Carroll Gardens was contentious from the start, not only because of the toxicity of the canal-zone location, but also because of the inclusion of a 420-space parking lot, which some critics pointed out was bigger than many suburban stores.