Supermarket tied up in red tape

From the Queens Chronicle:

The proposed Key Food supermarket planned for Cross Bay Boulevard has been delayed due to issues with its parking lot, a gate and questions over the zoning of the site — and some say it may not open at all.

The supermarket was announced last summer and is slated to open at 163-20 Cross Bay Blvd. in the building formerly occupied by Duane Reade, which closed permanently after Hurricane Sandy. The building was badly flooded in the storm.

The store was due to be open already, but several sources say ongoing problems with renovations, questions over zoning, its parking lot and a gate separating the lot from one for Staples, which is next door, have ground progress to a halt.

The site of the proposed Key Food was once an amusement park, and the owners of that park applied for special zoning variances for their entire property, which now includes a number of different businesses.

When the amusement park closed in the early 1990s, new buildings went up, including the one that houses Staples — formerly a laser tag venue — as well as buildings now housing other businesses.

The site of the Key Food was first a diner, then later the Duane Reade.

The sources say the sites have been sold off by the previous owner and the variances cannot, thus, be transferred to a supermarket, which operates under different rules than other stores.