It turns out Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s East Harlem grocery store project is an even bigger boondoggle than we thought.
A Post Business exclusive this week revealed that the La Marqueta site where Mamdani’s plans to spend $30 million was already approved for a $25 million upgrade nine years ago — meaning the taxpayers will burn $55 million on this white elephant.
Plus operating costs that the mayor hasn’t even pretended to estimate yet.
And in a neighborhood that already hosts ample food markets that now must worry the city-subsidized store will put them out of business.
In 2017, the city’s Economic Development Corp. approved a La Marqueta redesign featuring a playground, dog park and an outdoor seating pavilion; now the the boy socialist is pouring $25 million into building a supermarket and plaza beneath the elevated Metro-North tracks along Park Avenue between East 111th and 119th Streets.
Then again, the EDC’s taken nearly a decade to come up with simple renderings of a redesigned La Marqueta; should anyone believe Mamdani’s 9,000 sq. ft. store will be finsished by 2029?
Meanwhile, the mayor recently announced a 20,000-square-foot Bronx city-run grocery that’s to open next year — for just $10 million.
Do any socialist numbers add up?
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