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Study Calls Proposed Chappaqua Shopping Center 'Boost' For Business

CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. -- An independent study commissioned by the New Castle Town Board has found that the proposed Chappaqua Crossing shopping center would not draw business away from nearby hamlet shopping districts and may actually bring more customers to the area.

An independent study commissioned by the New Castle Town Board says a new shopping center in Chappaqua would not draw business away from nearby shopping districts within the hamlet.

An independent study commissioned by the New Castle Town Board says a new shopping center in Chappaqua would not draw business away from nearby shopping districts within the hamlet.

Photo Credit: File

Summit/Greenfield, a Connecticut-based partnership that owns Chappaqua Crossing, is seeking town approvals to develop 120,000 square feet of retail space on the former campus of Reader's Digest. It would include a grocery store with 36,000 square feet to 66,000 square feet of space and several new retail stores.

“There’s a significant outflow of spending from the town of New Castle to other communities because New Castle doesn’t have a supermarket in town,” Chappaqua Crossing spokesman Geoffrey Thompson said in a statement. “You have a small A&P in Millwood but nothing in Chappaqua. Think about how many people go to the supermarket every day. That’s taking a lot of people out of town.”

Chappaqua’s D’Agostino Supermarket closed in 2011.

The study, prepared by AKRF Inc., found consumer expenditures are already “leaking” from the hamlets to neighboring communities such as Mount Kisco, Pleasantville and Ossining because the hamlets don’t have an anchor grocery store.

AKRF said a grocery store at Chappaqua Crossing would draw customers within a 10-mile radius and could bring significantly more traffic to the Chappaqua and Millwood shopping districts than the hamlets can alone. Local shopping areas typically rely on trade from residents within a one-mile radius, according to the study

To keep out competition from big-box national retail chains and small boutiques, AKRF recommended limiting retail space for Chappaqua Crossing tenants to between 54,000 square feet and 84,000 square feet.

In its June business survey, the town consultant counted 120 retail stores that occupy 220,800 square feet of space within the two hamlets. The average store in Chappaqua and Millwood occupies 1,840 square feet of space.

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