At one point, Red Apple Group owned and operated 200 supermarkets in the New York metro, but the number is now down to 30 Gristedes stores in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Westchester.
âThe average rent of a Manhattan supermarket today is over 10% in sales,â Red Apple Group chairman & CEO John Catsimatidis mentioned during a panel session at EisnerAmper and Real Estate Weeklyâs Real Estate Dealmakers Forum on May 7.
And energy costs in Manhattan are over three percent in Manhattan, versus one percent in the Garden
Photo by ShanMcG213/ Flickr
State, he added.
âSo when people say, âOh, I can buy milk in New Jersey for XYZ, how come youâre charging so much?â I tell my operations people they have a choice,â he continued. âWe can renew the lease and pay, or not renew the lease and not pay. But if we do renew the lease, we have to charge more for the product. And thatâs the cost of doing business in Manhattan.â
Catsimatidis says the industry talks about free enterprise in real estate, and while heâs certainly a believer in it, the city also needs essential services in neighborhoods. âItâs a problem that has to at least be discussed without hurting the real estate industry, but letâs talk about not hurting the neighborhoods either.â
L-R: John Catsimatidis, Mintz Levin member and Port Authority Commissioner Jeffrey Moerdler and former New York State Governor David Paterson.
âThe joke I tell around town is that I wasnât in the supermarket business, Iâd be higher up on the Forbes list,â he quipped.
Catsimatidis was No. 272 on the Forbes 400 list of richest people in America in 2014, with a net worth of $2.3 billion that also comes from interests in the real estate development and energy industries.
Catsimatidis was joined by former New York State Governor David Paterson and Mintz Levin member and Port Authority Commissioner Jeffrey Moerdler, who discussed the impact of local and national policy issues on commercial real estate.
â by Amanda Marsh
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