"One of our requirements in the ground lease was for the new development to include an affordable supermarket for the community." That sentence comes from Penn South President Ambur Nicosia's report in the cooperative's 2025 annual report. It is the clearest explanation of why a Lidl opened its doors at 335 Eighth Avenue this morning, October 7, 2026.
The grocery store did not pick Chelsea on its own. It was written into the terms of the land under it. The same slow pace runs through the rest of this fall's openings that matter to people who live here. Alleva Dairy, which closed in Little Italy in March 2023, came back inside Chelsea Market in September. An Italian wine bar called Bar Lento, a name that means "slow," opened on Eighth Avenue on October 1 after a permit filing that dates to at least May. Taken together, the season's most useful additions are built for repeat weekday visits. Each took years of negotiation or patience to land.
A Supermarket Negotiated by a Co-op
The building at 335 Eighth Avenue is called Mabel, after the writer and conservationist Mabel Osgood Wright. It is a seven-story, 188-unit mixed-income building developed by MAG Partners on the Penn South campus. When construction began in 2023, Chelsea News NY reported that 30% of the units would be set aside for low- and middle-income tenants. The building replaced a deteriorating Penn South-owned commercial building that had held a Gristedes supermarket, a McDonald's and a tennis club. Penn South cited repair costs it could not afford and expiring commercial leases when it chose to redevelop.
The cooperative still owns the land. Under the ground lease, Penn South collected $2.12 million in rent for the site over the year covered by its 2025 annual report. That was $500,000 more than the year before and, in the report's words, "far more than the old building generated." Payments rise on a schedule, with a reset 11 years out and every 25 years after that. The supermarket clause sits alongside those rent terms. Penn South swapped an aging grocery building for a newer, higher-paying one and kept a grocery store on the corner as a condition of the deal.
The timeline shows how long that condition took to deliver. Chelsea News NY's October 2023 story expected a Lidl in fall 2025. The building's concrete shell was finished at the end of May 2024, and Mabel held its grand opening in August 2025. Penn South's report then described interior work continuing on the store into late 2025. It added that "many in our community eagerly await the opening of a Lidl supermarket in the fall of 2026." That date held.
What Opened This Morning
According to The Shelby Report, the grand opening began with a 7:40 a.m. ribbon-cutting. The store will be open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week. The figures to know:
- Size: The Shelby Report puts the store at more than 12,100 square feet. Penn South's report describes a 15,000-square-foot grocery space across the ground level and basement. The gap likely reflects what each source counts.
- Bakery: An in-store bakery bakes throughout the day, including Lidl's butter croissant at 49 cents.
- Non-food aisle: A rotating weekly selection that runs from kitchenware to seasonal home goods.
- Opening day: What Now New York reports that the first 100 customers in line received gift cards worth between $5 and $100. Weekly promotions for Lidl Plus members continue after today.
The store manager is Brayan Garcia, who told The Shelby Report that his team aimed for "a fast, effortless shopping experience." Lidl US opened its first American stores in 2017 and now runs more than 200 across nine East Coast states. That makes the Chelsea store a recent arrival from a fairly young U.S. chain, not an outpost of a long-established local grocer.
The Same Avenue, Further South
Mabel sits at the northern end of a run of small openings along Eighth Avenue and its side streets. All of them opened between Labor Day weekend and today. Walking north from 18th Street, in order:
- Bar Lento, 158 Eighth Avenue near West 18th Street, opened Thursday, October 1. Eater NY describes a brick-framed room with a secret garden and an Italian wine list of whites, bubbles and pét-nats from Sardinia to Veneto. The owners are Simone Viola and his wife Chiara, who moved from Verona. A Community Board 4 filing reported by What Now New York in May listed 27 indoor seats and a back patio and bar seating 10.
- MadDough Bagels, 261 West 19th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, debuted Saturday, September 12. Eater NY reports that the family-run shop's pizza bagels were drawing attention and that it was selling out by noon.
- Cinnaholic, 228 Eighth Avenue at West 22nd Street, opened its first physical location over Labor Day weekend. It is a vegan cinnamon roll bar with customizable toppings, and Coffee Project New York supplies the coffee.
- Lidl, 335 Eighth Avenue, on the ground floor of Mabel, opened today.
Bar Lento's 27-seat dining room, a bagel counter that sells out before lunch, a roll bar and a supermarket are all sized for neighbors. None was built for crowds that come in for an evening and leave. Bar Lento also fits the slow pattern. It was a permit filing in May with no opening date, and it opened in October.
A Little Italy Institution Took the Long Way to Ninth Avenue
Two avenues west, the fall's other notable return took even longer. Alleva Dairy, founded in 1892, closed its shop at 188 Grand Street on March 5, 2023. The New York Post reported at the time that the pandemic slowed sales for owner Karen King to both walk-in customers and local restaurants.
Chelsea Market offered her a space soon after the closure. In between, she considered a New Jersey deal that held out the possibility of 30 stores, but she walked away because she did not like the contract. Alleva opened on the Main Concourse of Chelsea Market, at 75 Ninth Avenue, on Sunday, September 13, next to Fat Witch Bakery. It is open noon to 7 p.m. daily.
"Little Italy was mostly Italian, this is international. Chelsea Market is a place where people come from all over the world and you experience all the different heritages and foods that they bring."
That is how King described the move to the New York Post. The new stall leans further into prepared food than the old grocery format did. It has 13 signature sandwiches, including the "Cha Cha," which King named for her husband, John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia: mortadella with provolone, crushed pistachios and Dijon. Chef Carlo Palandri, from Livorno, contributes "Il Toscano," with house-made porchetta and roasted garlic cream. There are also ravioli alla vodka, rigatoni Bolognese, and cannoli in five flavors. The century-old original signs hang in the new stall, and the shop kept its old phone number. The 15-foot street sign remains in storage.
The Tenth Avenue Openings Run on a Faster Clock
The western edge of the neighborhood added openings this season too, and they follow a different model. In mid-August, STK opened a 200-seat steakhouse at 412 West 15th Street. On September 25, the Crane Club team opened Bar CC at 85 Tenth Avenue. That team is chef Melissa Rodriguez and restaurateur Jeff Katz, working with Tao Group Hospitality, with Harrison Ginsberg running the bar program. These are hospitality-group openings at a larger scale, the kind of rooms that draw people from across the city. The Eighth Avenue openings depend on the people who live nearby coming back on a Tuesday.
The calendar near the river follows the destination pattern as well. ARTECHOUSE's "Twilight Zone: Hidden Wonders of the Ocean," made with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, runs at Chelsea Market through November 16. The High Line's family Halloween event, "Gnome-topia," runs Saturday, October 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hudson River Park's guided gallery at the Pier 57 Discovery Tank is open Thursdays and Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. through December 19.
Of everything that opened this fall, the 49-cent croissant at 335 Eighth Avenue has the longest paper trail behind it. It started with a 2023 decision by a housing cooperative to replace its Gristedes building, and a ground-lease clause that required the new building to keep a supermarket on the corner.
Penn South's experience shows a pattern that holds across hospitality and retail: a tenant requirement written into a ground lease can shape a block for decades, and the time from signed terms to an operating tenant often runs years beyond the first estimate. The Greg Mire Team advises operators and owners on venue sourcing, lease structure and operational readiness for projects like this. Request a confidential consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
