Trader Joe’s and Petco to join BJ’s at Kingsbridge shopping center?

After nationwide chains Trader Joe’s and Petco were added to a map of the Riverdale Crossing shopping center in Kingsbridge, the document mysteriously disappeared from Ripco Realty’s website.

The Press reported the new additions planned for the yet-to-be-built shopping center at spanning Broadway between West 236th and 238th streets on Thursday, but by Monday morning the map and the brochure it was included in were gone.

Ripco, the firm in charge of leasing out spaces at the center, is currently seeking tenants to complement BJ’s. Specialty grocer Trader Joe’s and pet supply juggernaut Petco appeared to be the first additions.

Metropolitan Realty Associates and Ripco Realty did not respond to multiple calls for comment.

The map showed the 114,598 -square-foot shopping center anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club, which occupied an approximate 82,000-square-foot space on 237th Street. Trader Joe’s, the first in the Bronx, occupied a 4,992 square-foot space facing West 238th Street, across from Putnam Avenue West. Petco occupied a 9,303 square-foot space along West 237th Street.

Metropolitan Realty Associates and Angelo, Gordon and Co. closed on the purchase of the vacant Stella D’oro factory for $18.75 million on Aug. 10. 

The shopping center is slated for 485 spaces of street level and rooftop parking, according to Ripco's website.

It is unclear how many jobs the new shopping center will produce, but it is unlikely to match the wages of its unionized predecessor.

After a year-long labor battle led to the shuttering of Kingsbridge’s Stella D’oro factory in 2009, the building has remained vacant, essentially a graffiti exhibition along the Major Deegan Expressway.

In January, Metropolitan Realty Associates filed plans to demolish the entire building, but it’s unclear when it will be razed. Marlene Cintron, president of the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, told The Riverdale Press in 2011 that construction is scheduled for completion sometime during 2013.