And Then There Were None

A year ago, we were eagerly anticipating two grocery stores in Hudson: Acres Co-op Market and Filli's Fresh Market. By the end of June, our hopes for a co-op market were dashed. Now it seems that there will be no urban version of the Claverack Market either, even though work continues at the "Hudson Arcade" site, which was to house the market.

It's not clear exactly what happened to put the kibosh on the plans for the grocery store. There are hints that the Filli's people may have been hoping for more financial support from Galvan than, in the end, Galvan was willing to provide, but, whatever the reason, Hudson is without the promise of a grocery store, and the building, if it ever is completed, will be available to some other commercial enterprise—maybe a grocery store, maybe not.

The fact that there will be a different tenant in the building raises a question. When the Planning Commission was doing its site plan review, people living on Union Street, whose backyards were across Cherry Alley from the proposed grocery store, came out to express their concern about large trucks—semis—using the alley when making deliveries to the store in the early hours of the morning. The Filli's people assured them that any trucks making deliveries before 7 a.m. would access the store from Warren Street. The only vehicle using the alley for deliveries during business hours would be a small van bearing goods and supplies from the Claverack Market. 

Would the assurances made by the Filli's people be binding on some other tenant? Gossips went to the Planning Commission meeting tonight to find out and was told that the constraints on the use of the alley had been written into the site plan approval and would apply to any enterprise that occupied the building.