Tom Tobin

ROC

A sizable downtown grocery store — a first for the city in many years — is being planned for the former Craig Autometrics garage on lower East Avenue, city Neighborhood and Business Development commissioner Delmonize Smith said Thursday.

The name of the store will be Hart's Local Grocers, said Dresden Engle of Dresden Public Relations Inc., who has been working with the owners of the store for many months. Engle said the business will be an independent, full-service, locally owned store with plans for a May opening.

Additional details are being revealed at a Friday morning news conference at the former garage, at 10 Winthrop St. near the Little Theatre and 2Vine restaurant.

"The plans still need city approvals, including site plans," Smith said. "I'm excited about the potential of this project. There is an obvious need for a grocery store downtown."

Since the repair shop closed Dec. 1, rumors have swirled about the potential sale of the garage to an unnamed couple with plans for a high-end grocery store of the Whole Foods ilk.

Burch Craig confirmed last week that his building will be sold but declined to identify the possible buyers or to discuss the chance that a grocery store may be in the offing. The size of the body shop is about 21,000 square feet, according to county records..

A note on the Craig Autometrics website said the sale will occur by the end of the month.

Parking may be an issue in that crowded area of East Avenue, where The Little and 2Vine, both popular sites, are located. Jerry Serafine, owner of 2Vine, said he doesn't expect parking to be a problem, in part because a market would be a daytime destination and wouldn't necessarily interfere with the theater or restaurant.

"I'm not in a position to talk about the new owners or their plans but I would be very pleased if a market went in there," Serafine said. "It would a great addition to downtown and to that section of East Avenue."

With the increase in apartment and condominiums downtown along with the redevelopment of the former Midtown Plaza site, talk about the need for a grocery store to serve that population has intensified in recent years.

Though there are small groceries along Main Street in the center city, there hasn't been a large, full-service grocery in the area since Wegmans Food Markets left the plaza in the mid-1990s.

Tops Friendly Markets president Frank Curci said in a recent interview that his company has been looking for suitable places to open a supermarket in downtown Rochester. "It's going to happen," he said. "And we want to be the first."

TTOBIN@DemocratandChronicle.com

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