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Aldi, the German-owned discount supermarket, could be coming to Rocky Point very soon.
Developers have pitched plans for the new grocery store to move into the vacant stores in The Crossroads shopping center at 85 North Country Road (Route 25A) in Rocky Point. The strip mall was the former home to Modell’s Sporting Goods before the legendary New York metro area chain went out of business in 2020.
The end cap on the east side of the shopping center has been vacant, formerly home to Modell’s and Mattress Firm, which has since moved to another unit in the shopping center to the west, presumably to make space for a larger retailer.
Plans call for additions to the unit totaling 2,170 square feet to add space for the Aldi supermarket on the east end of the building. According to plans submitted to the town, the additional spaces will be on the northeast side of the building, a 1,996-square-foot build out and another 174-square-foot addition to the rear of the building.
The builders are also looking for approval for facade and site work. The facade change will encompass the entire strip mall bringing it a little more in line with the Aldi brand.
Attorney Bram Weber from Weber Law Group in Melville represented the grocery store at a Brookhaven Town Planning Board meeting on Aug. 1 where he reviewed the plans and the variances needed for the project.
Built in 1970, the shopping center sits on 4.57 acres and has parking for 150 cars, according to loopnet.com. Town zoning calculates that 321 spaces are needed for the entire strip mall as proposed. Aldi is seeking an exception for 216 spaces including 7 handicap accessible stalls, a 32.5% variance from code totalling 105 fewer spaces.
Reviewing the elevations, board members commented on how the Aldi supermarket at the east end of the building in the new drawing looks very different from the rest of the strip mall to the west.
Brookhaven Town Board member Richard Smith said that from the drawings they look like “two totally different buildings stuck together.”
“There’s no continuity,” Smith said. “I’m not comfortable with this elevation.”
Weber displayed the drawings saying that the Aldi supermarket architecture is typical of the brand’s look and feel and that the rest of the shopping center colors are being tied together to conform as closely as possible while adhering to the hamlet’s overlay requirements.
“It’s a good upgrade overall to the exterior of the shopping center,” Weber said.
The planning board put the matter on the decision calendar. The board approved the application and variances during its Aug. 15 meeting.
Top: Shown is an Aldi supermarket in Bensalem, Pa., in 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
