Lois Weiss

Lois Weiss

Real Estate

Organic grocers are growing — and getting even greener

The demand for organic, healthy food is leading to more shelf space in traditional grocers and leases for dedicated organic stores.

The category killer, Whole Foods, recently opened a 56,000-square-foot store next to the Gowanus Canal at 214 Third St. in Brooklyn where it has taken green building to a whole new level.

The company has also just joined the US Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge and is committing to a 20 percent energy reduction by 2020 across its entire portfolio. Eight stores are already open in the city.

“They’re also sharing what they are doing so smaller retail operations can learn and achieve greater efficiencies,” explained Maria Vargas, director of the Better Buildings Challenge and senior program advisor, DOE.

The Whole Foods in Gowanus includes a rooftop greenhouse run by Gotham Greens that will bring down energy costs while adding locally grown produce to its shelves. Since the roof is protected by the greenhouses, the building won’t lose as much heat or need as much energy for cooling.

Parking lot canopies have solar panels and are expected to supply roughly 29 percent of the building’s electrical needs. All of these efficiencies — along with lower heat outputting from LED lighting — will save the store an estimated $300,000 per year.

But Whole Foods is not alone in its quest for your greenmarket dollars. The smaller Mrs. Green’s Natural Market is now putting its first roots into Manhattan with a 15,550-square-foot store in the base of the co-op at 585 Hudson St.

Joe Mastromonaco of the Dartmouth Company represented Mrs. Green’s in the deal for the former Duane Reade space that has 6,800 feet on the ground and a lower level of 8,750 feet. Robin Abrams and Susan Teplitz of The Lansco Corporation represented the co-op board. It had a yearly asking rent of $2 million.

Mrs. Green’s has 18 stores in the tri-state area and 22 elsewhere in the US.

But Patrick Breslin, executive vice president of Studley Retail, worries the city’s neighborhood markets are being driven out of business. “The Whole Foods of the world are driving the local grocers out of business and no new Asian markets are opening,” he observed.