The Daily News and NY Post reported recently that Wal-Mart is considering the former K-Mart site in the Caesar’s Bay shopping center on the Shore Parkway for its first NYC store.

Wal-Mart told the Daily News that it is considering a smaller "urban" store of 99,000 square feet, rather than the normal size of 200,000 square feet. Besides the former Kmart, the company is looking at Coney Island’s former thunderbolt roller coaster site, Manhattan’s Pier 40, the renovated Farley Post Office, the East Harlem Washburn Wire Factory, and Sunset Park. Despite these communities’ proximity to mass transit, previous plans for big-box stores in some, such as a Costco and Home Depot at the Washburn Wire Factory site, have been car dependent. Nothing indicates that Wal-Mart’s plans will be any different.

The Caesar’s Bay Kmart (at the intersection of Bay Parkway) closed last year, along with 13 other "underperforming" stores in NY State. It looks like a traditional strip mall surrounded by a sea of parking, though is located directly on the waterfront.

It’s interesting that while Caesar’s Bay and other Kmarts went under, their Manhattan counterparts remained very much in business. The successful stores are on Astor Place in the East Village and at Penn Station.

This is not surprising. Caesar’s Bay is inaccessible by public transit. The site is also far away from office buildings and cut off from easy pedestrian shopping by the Shore Parkway, whereas the Manhattan K-Marts are close to many transit lines and workplaces. In fact, the Astor Place store continues to be one of Kmart’s most profitable, according to a recent Detroit Free Press article.

Instead of encouraging companies like Wal-Mart to take over vacant big box stores on the city’s car- dependent edge, NYC planners may want to think about redeveloping such sites for other uses.

Planners and architects have become increasingly interested in "adaptive reuse," or redesigning buildings or sites for another use. This type of thing is common in New York, where, for example, old industrial buildings are transformed into residential lofts. How about adaptive reuse for the Shore Parkway Kmart store? Perhaps the other stores could remain, but alongside a new marina or recreation center. How about increasing density, filling in a portion of the underused parking lot (or putting it underground) and adding restaurants to take advantage of the waterfront views?

There are already plans to continue the Shore Parkway bike path past Bay Parkway and through Coney Island, according to the Dept. of City Planning. Why not build a wider bikeway and park closer to the waterfront?

A city of 8 million people provides a huge retail market. If a store can’t survive in a certain location, it’s time to reevaluate the site and learn from mistakes. Stores like Wal-Mart should locate in truly urban sites: near transit, with multiple floors, and consistent with community design. Instead of widening off ramps to accommodate traffic drawn to strip malls — NYCDOT recently proposed adding a right turn lane on the Caesar’s Bay Shore Parkway exit — the city should resist the urge to allow bad suburban design to weigh on its scarce parkland and already congested neighborhoods.  

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