The fight for a new market continues

MILLERTON ­­— Key members of Citizens for Millerton, the group that organized the Nov. 30 pep rally in support of a new supermarket, met to talk strategy on Friday, Dec. 14, at Riley’s Furniture. They met with John Joseph, principal of Southern Realty & Development LLC, the applicant behind the proposed 36,000-square foot supermarket presumed to be a Hannaford. (Joseph for legal reasons has never gone on the record to confirm his tenant is Hannaford; others working for the developer have openly referred to the store as a Hannaford.) Joseph’s application for site-plan approval is to build anew on a 10-plus acre site he plans to purchase from Quinmill Properties. It is adjacent to Thompson Plaza, located in the Boulevard District off Route 44.However, right now Citizens for Millerton is campaigning to bring Joseph and his tenant to the Millerton Square plaza, to replace the existing Grand Union. That plan has been the developer’s goal from the very beginning — something he’s been very open discussing in public.“I said what I said from day one — the community needs a supermarket and it would be a shame when there’s an old, tired center [not to make use of it] when I have $8 to $10 million to invest, and instead I would be forced to build something new,” said Joseph.Taking over the existing Grand Union has been something of a challenge for Joseph. Grand Union is owned by its wholesale supplier, C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocery supplier in the Unites States. C&S has a lease with landlord Millerton Super, Inc. (owned by brothers Robert and John “Skip” Trotta). Skip Trotta has recently made public his desire to deal with SRD and Hannaford, something he said he’s wished for all along. Like many others in the community, Trotta said the Grand Union is in poor condition and needs to be taken over and renovated, and that Hannaford would be the ideal company for such a project. He also speaks highly of Joseph, whom he has had business dealings with in the past.The difficulty is that C&S doesn’t do business with Hannaford markets, but it does do business with Freshtown markets, one of which is located in Amenia. Freshtown owners Dan and Noah Katz run that store, as well as another in Dover (formerly Foodtowns); in total they own 13 locations. The Katzes have also expressed interest in setting up shop in Millerton, and approached the Trottas about leasing the existing Grand Union, which would be an easy transition since both stores deal with C&S. Skip Trotta said he turned the Katzes down, and would do so again.However, the Katzes have continued their quest. Those campaigning for Hannaford have expressed doubt regarding the Katzes’ true intentions and wonder if they truly want to open a store in Millerton or if they merely want to derail Hannaford from opening within a 15-mile radius of the Amenia Freshtown.“Their motive is clear,” said Millerton Mayor John Scutieri. “They don’t want anything to happen in Millerton.”The Katzes have not returned calls for comment.In fact, Joseph, Trotta and Scutieri were set to meet with C&S Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Bryan Granger on Friday, Dec. 7, but that meeting was canceled at the last moment. Trotta said he believed it was because of the Katzes’ interference. “I just got a cancellation call [from Granger] that said he was tied up and couldn’t make it and that he was not in a position for a face-to-face,” Trotta said. “But his implication was that it was politics on his side of the fence that he has to deal with.”Joseph said that he, too, spoke with Granger, and that he believed “all eyes are on getting something to happen.”Others at the meeting, including the mayor, said when they spoke with the CFO he was on a fact-finding mission.“He was very apologetic for not knowing more about Millerton,” Scutieri said. As far as the phone blitz Citizens for Millerton initiated the Monday after its pep rally, Scutieri said it’s been very successful. “I was very excited,” he said, noting he was especially surprised once the Friday meeting was scheduled. “I was pleased with how things were going. I really felt very positive.”It was agreed the group must keep the pressure on C&S to deal with Joseph and Hannaford, and ideally to visit the Millerton Grand Union. The hope is once Granger sees the store first hand he will decide it should get out of the retail business (the Millerton market is one of only two of its retail endeavors).Joseph said not only is C&S likely anxious to get out of the retail business, but he believes it would prefer to deal with his tenant, which is willing to invest $8 to $10 million into renovating Grand Union (including the plaza’s parking lot), versus the Katzes, who have spoken about a $1 million renovation at Planning Board meetings in the past. “I think quite frankly that C&S is really waiting for two things: a neg. dec. [meaning a simplified environmental review process on the SRD application] and Freshtown [to step aside],” Scutieri said. “I think they want out.”Joseph said if C&S isn’t willing to deal with him, and that negative declaration is approved by the Planning Board, he may “very well” move ahead with the Quinmill property on Route 44. Right now that application is suspended until he and co-applicant Ken Thompson can come to an agreement regarding a shared driveway that’s needed to access both the supermarket parking lot and Thompson Plaza. Joseph said Thompson has been changing his demands frequently, but in the final analysis he believes the plaza owner will come to the table within the next month to negotiate a deal. Citizens for Millerton, meanwhile, talked about its options, ranging from hanging posters around town to pressure C&S or to boycott Freshtown to actually picketing the Amenia store, to contacting local and state politicians for support to creating a new petition. In the end it was decided to continue the phone blitz and make sure the meeting that was canceled gets rescheduled, whether it’s held in Millerton or at C&S headquarters in Keene, N.H. “There is no one silver bullet,” Trotta said, adding the group should list all of its options. “It’s going to take a combination of multiple bullets.”