Did 7-Eleven Ditch Avenue A Plans? East Villagers Speculate
By Billy Gray June 13, 2013 2:42 pm
reprintsThe East Village rumor mill is working overtime on reports that 7-Eleven may have nixed plans for a controversial store on East 11th Street and Avenue A.
Proposals for a 7-Eleven branch in the once-gritty Alphabet City have prompted guerrilla street art protests, the No 7-Eleven blog and a visit by the righteous anti-consumerist Reverend Billy. 
EV Grieve reported today that work had “seemingly ground to a halt” at 500 East 11th Street. A citizen journalist wrote to the blog saying that a contractor at the site told him “originally he had expected it would be a 7-Eleven, but now he has no idea anymore.” A construction worked chimed in, saying that the space wouldn’t be a 7-Eleven “because of all the protests.”
Finally, Grieve wrote that a reliable East Village source said that the building’s landlord, Kushner Companies, believes it can get more rent for the prime corner address than a 7-Eleven would generate. (Kushner Companies President and CEO Jared Kushner publishes The Commercial Observer.)
Margaret Chabris, the corporate communications director at 7-Eleven, told us that reports of the swiftly expanding convenience chain moving on from 500 East 11th Street were based “purely [on] hearsay and speculation.”
