Councilmember Farías questions on traffic flow and partner coordination

Like, is Target the only location on the campus that has an elevator going down to the downstairs parking lot?

So it is a separate condo and Target owns their level.

Okay, got it.

I guess I asked that question just in the same respect to how to facilitate better traffic movement in that area.

I don't know in the construction if there's a possibility there, if there's another way to bring people through.

I think many of us would like to see those that go to that mall would like to see a throughway on the Lafayette side.

And so happy to support whatever conversations for the council member as well as someone that borders that district.

And I know plenty of my neighbors and residents shop at that mall.

But additionally to that, it would be interesting to hear from you folks as through construction, what other areas you could have that can reach the bottom parking lot, especially if we're bringing in a commercial space like a supermarket.

In my mall, my older mall shops at Bruckner Plaza, our Aldi's has an up and down.

You can go to the parking lot upstairs or downstairs, and that helps facilitate traffic and how people get to access the market itself.

So just throwing that out there in case there's ways that we can maneuver around.

I know there's several exits, but it all leads to the one pathway where we have to all loop around the entire edifice.

to get back onto the roadway by Home Depot and the Target entrance.

And again, I think I want to also reiterate the...

There's a bunch of good partners, you know, yourself, the Bally's folks, PepsiCo, that I think all are in that area that can maybe all convene and figure out a way to help.

Put some local investment or some ideas together to help make the traffic in that area better.

It is one of the main traffic ways to get onto the Throgs Neck Bridge, and we know how busy that bridge is.

It causes a lot of traffic along with the folks that are attending the mall.

However, I can be helpful there.

You know, please loop me in.

But I just think, you know, just to support Councilmember Aldebal's efforts here, it is a highly utilized space.

And we obviously would like to see as many businesses that can bring resources to the district as possible, but also.

Not completely forget the fact, the main issue there, which is the flow of traffic and how we will be getting more people into that area, especially if we're creating a different resource in this space by bringing in a supermarket.

Thank you.

And we obviously appreciate your offer to support.

Again, we thought the cut through on Lafayette was a really good potential solution.

And we still think that may be a possibility.

And as indicated, a lot of the time spent on this application was examining potential traffic impacts and then along with the Bally's project, looking at their traffic as well.

But the end result with regard to our development was that even the addition of the supermarket would not significantly increase the amount of traffic to the site.

So.

Yeah, we would like to address it as well because it's important to our customers and our tenants there.

But again, due to, again, some of the limitations due to the geography and the changing grade, you know, the Lafayette Avenue.

Solutions seem to be hopefully the most viable.

And again, we're hopeful because the safety plan or bike plan has not gone through yet that maybe DOT will reconsider.