Residents organize to save Knolls

It’s about whether people can continue to live here independently.”

Joan Carroll

After years of frustration over the gradual loss of neighborhood services, more than 100 residents gathered in Spuyten Duyvil last week for a meeting aimed at reviving the long-struggling Knolls Crescent Shopping Plaza.

Joan Carroll, president of Knolls Crescent Cooperative I, and board member Karen Kawaguchi are leading the Save Knolls Kappock Retail campaign. The mee resident-led coordinated action to address what they describe as a sustained erosion of walkable services in a community with a large senior and fixed-income population.

“This isn’t about one store,” Carroll told The Riverdale Press. “It’s about whether people can continue to live here independently.”

For decades, Knolls Crescent served as the primary commercial strip for much of northern Riverdale. The Knolls Crescent cooperatives just behind it were established as limited-equity housing to promote long-term affordability and stability, a model that helped create a community with a high concentration of retirees, people with disabilities and residents aging in place.

In that context, neighbors urged, access to nearby services has always been essential.

Residents used the forum to reflect on what Knolls Crescent once offered, and what they say has been lost. Several recalled a lively commercial strip that functioned as a neighborhood hub, lined with diners, bakeries and candy stores, some with open signs glowing late into the night.

“This used to be a place where you could get everything you needed without leaving the neighborhood,” one longtime resident said.

In recent years, a series of closures has gradually hollowed out the plaza.
“About three or four years ago, the Chase bank disappeared,” Carroll said. “And more recently, the Rite Aid disappeared.”

The bank’s closure in 2020 eliminated the neighborhood’s only walkable ATM, a loss residents said has had an outsized impact on seniors and residents with limited mobility. Several said they now rely on cash back at stores or must travel by bus, car or on foot to access basic banking services.

“Something as simple as getting cash shouldn’t require planning a trip,” one resident said. “But that’s where we are now.”

While Ben’s Market reopened last year under new ownership after a brief closure, providing a rare bright spot for the strip, residents emphasized that a single grocery store cannot replace the range of services the plaza once provided.

“We’re grateful Ben’s is here,” one resident said during the meeting. “But a community can’t function on one anchor alone.”

Multiple storefronts along Knolls Crescent and nearby Kappock Street have remained vacant for years, contributing to what residents described as stagnation and disinvestment. Residents expressed worries that the visual impact of prolonged vacancies has also affected how outsiders perceive the neighborhood and how potential buyers view nearby housing.

“The problem is that each loss makes the next one more damaging,” another neighbor chimed. “Once services start disappearing, the neighborhood becomes harder to live in, especially if you’re older.”
The shopping plaza is split between two landlords — Friedland Properties and AB Realty — a division residents said has complicated efforts to understand leasing plans and long-term intentions. Residents said they have received little direct communication from either owner, fueling frustration and uncertainty about the future of the strip.

“This is about accountability,” Kawaguchi said. “When stores sit empty for years, it affects safety, morale and how people feel about where they live.”

During the meeting, residents outlined plans to hold monthly meetings beginning in late February or early March to maintain momentum and move from discussion to action. Kawaguchi said future meetings will focus on community-organizing training, direct outreach to property owners and engagement with elected officials.

Carroll and Kawaguchi said they also hope to document how the loss of walkable services affects seniors and residents with disabilities, information they plan to share with local and state officials.

“We’ve been patient for a long time,” Kawaguchi said. “Now we’re organized.”