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IT’S A PITCH
IMPERFECT
Brighton Beach grocer must demolish its
outdoor tented produce section, city rules
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The owners of a new Brighton
Beach grocery store
must tear down a massive
tent they illegally erected
outside their market to expand
its produce section,
the city ordered.
“The Department of
Buildings issued an order
requiring the tent be taken
down within 72 hours,”
agency spokeswoman Abigail
Kunitz said on Jan. 7,
three days before this newspaper
went to press as the
last minutes to the demolition
deadline ticked down.
The owners of My Mandarin
on Dec. 25 opened
the grocery store on Brighton
Beach Avenue at Ocean
Parkway, along with its
tented extension — which
is furnished with producefi
lled aisles, lighting, and
security cameras — the
building’s lease owner said.
But weeks before, inspectors
with the Department
of Buildings on Dec.
11 slapped the grocer with a
violation for illegally erecting
the roughly 12-foot burgundy
tent, according to
city records.
That fi ne comes with a
minimum fi nancial penalty
of $6,000, according to
Kunitz, who said her colleagues
deemed the tent
structurally unsafe following
a Jan. 3 inspection,
and that the city could take
the grocer to court if the
structure isn’t promptly removed.
“If the owners fail to
comply with this order, they
may be subject to additional
enforcement actions,” she
said.
The agency’s ruling
will surely come as a relief
to those locals who
worried the illegal tent
could lead to a catastrophe
if left unmoved.
“It’s crazy, because last
year we had a big snowstorm,
and what will happen
if we have weather like
that again this year?” Hazel
LeBlanc, who works in the
neighborhood, told this reporter
when he visited the
site last week.
My Mandarin’s leaseholder
refused to tell this
newspaper why store operators
chose to use the tent
as an al-fresco produce section
following the fi rst violation.
He instead emphasized
how the new grocer — and
its illicit extension — are an
improvement over the building’s
past tenants, who allegedly
let trash pile up on
the pavement where the tent
now stands.
“As soon as I started renting
the property, I saw how
much garbage was there.
I took four containers of
trash out,” said lease-holder
Roma, who refused to provide
his last name, but said
he previously ran now-shuttered
grocer Mama Liza on
Kings Highway at E. 18th
Street.
EVERYTHING MUST GO: The
illegal tented extension covers
My Mandarin’s produce section,
and the store’s lease holder
said it is a big improvement
over the heaps of trash that
previous tenants’ left in the
space. Photo by Kevin Duggan
/WWW.MRVACUUMSTORES.COM