A request to extend a permit for a temporary refrigerated storage unit by Everfresh Supermarket in the Village of Great Neck turned into a dispute with the owner of the pharmacy next door on Tuesday.
Howard Hassin, an Everfresh representative, appeared at a Village of Great Neck Board of Trustees meeting seeking a three-month extension for the refrigerated storage unit permit as the supermarket was waiting for a response from the owner of Middle Neck Pharmacy about the possible purchase of the property.
Hassin said the supermarket was looking to expand and would not need the refrigerated unit if it is able to use the next-door property.
He added that he was a told a “generous offer” was made to the pharmacy store’s owner, but because he was away in China, the response would get to them by April 1.
But Steven Wu, of Silver Lake Realty Group, which owns the pharmacy, then stood up and said Hassin’s statements were “false and incorrect” and that he was not in China.
Everfresh’s owner, Abraham Banda, had made multiple attempts to purchase the pharmacy in the past at an “undervalued” price, Wu said, and is now attempting to buy it through a third-party real estate broker.
“Now he’s going through a different means of not representing that it’s him and saying it’s a third party that wants to purchase it when it’s actually for Everfresh,” he said.
Wu said he was at the meeting because the real estate broker, Richard Solomon, sent him an email stating the village was considering taking parking away from the area behind the pharmacy and utilizing it for Everfresh delivery trucks.
“This will severely limit your tenants,” he said the email stated. “It’s a good time to sell before these changes take place.”
Wu said it was a “scare tactic” used by Banda to urge him to sell the property, and although they have worked cooperatively in the past, he didn’t appreciate “being lied to.”
Village of Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral said the village had not received any application or notification from the supermarket seeking to take any parking spaces.
Bral also voiced displeasure over Banda’s failure to appear at the meeting, stating that the supermarket’s owner made a promise to attend.
“It’s insulting to the board and I think he needs to be notified of that,” he said. “For the year and a half that I’ve been the mayor, I don’t think anyone has done this underhanded nonsense.”
Although Banda was not there, Hassin still requested that the board grant the permit extension for the storage unit as it is pivotal for the supermarket’s butcher department and it would not be able to operate without it.
The village’s building superintendent, Bob Barbach, said the initial six-month permit expired in October.
“So they are now in violation and have been notified as a courtesy that they are in violation,” Barbach said.
Bral said it was difficult for the board to grant the extension because its members did not want village residents who shop at the supermarket to suffer, but at the same time did not want to reward Everfresh for its handling of the situation.
“It pains me that I have to punish somebody, but it’s as if you guys are asking for it constantly,” he said. “It’s unheard of to lie to the board, to not show up when you’re supposed to show up and then ask for an extension.”
The board decided to adjourn the request to its Jan. 17 meeting and require that Banda be there.
Barbach said no violation would be given to the supermarket for its use of the refrigerated storage unit until that time.
Also at the meeting, the board voted to monitor the village’s energy use in an effort to receive New York State Energy Research and Development Authority grant funding.
Village Attorney Phil Butler said the energy monitoring was one of 10 potential “impact items” the village could implement to become a “clean energy community.”
The village, Butler said, needed to adopt four total “impact items” to be considered for a $50,000 or $100,000 grant.
Everfresh application claim disputed
