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No news is kinda good news when it comes to the future of the embattled Met Foods on Second Avenue in the East Village. The Villager, who's been following this story like a stalker with no day job, reports that city councilmember Rosie Mendez is now stepping in to try to help broker a deal between the grocery store and N.Y.U. Initially, N.Y.U. planned to kick the store out when its lease was up so they could use the space for their own purposes; that plan went awry when locals and the press caught wind of it. Now, N.Y.U.'s deciding what the best possible strategy is to minimize the blowback and negative attention this whole ordeal has garnered them. “'N.Y.U. initially told me they needed more space and were not going to renew the lease; this was two or three years ago,' Mendez said. 'But now they want to renew. The last offer on the table is for a five-year lease, but commercial tenants always want at least an eight-to-10-year lease, if not a 15-year lease.'" Which means: The (boring) battle has just begun!
· Mendez mediates on Met Food [Villager]
· NYU Might Kill EVill Met Food [Racked]

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N.Y.U. is on more than a few East Village residents' shit lists at the moment. Locals are pissed at the school because of rumblings that N.Y.U. is going to price the sort-of creepy Met Food on Second Avenue out of the neighborhood. The Villager reports that at a recent meeting N.Y.U. officials held about the school's long-term development plans, more than 60 riled-up neighbors attended because they were worried about losing the grocery store.

The concern here is that Met's lease is up for renewal, and Mike Schumacher, one of the men that have been running the East Village market for some 20 odd years, said that NYU wanted to triple the rent. "Waving placards saying, 'I shop at the Met supermarket,' neighbors said they depended on Met Food for reasonable prices and a store within walking — or wheelchair — distance from their homes." NYU has promised that even if Met has to go, they'll replace it with another grocery store, but some Villagers fear that that means a Whole Foods or something equally expensive. 'Met Food is a linchpin of our community,' said one neighbor." And what is N.Y.U., chopped liver?
· E. Village food fight pits N.Y.U. vs. grocery [Villager]

Photo via Jeremiah's Vanishing NY

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