Western Beef partners with Marin Architects on Canstruction exhibit at Brookfield Place [video]

Western Beef partnered with Marin Architects on an exhibit for Canstruction NY at Brookfield Placein TriBeCa which took place between November 2nd and November 15th. Canstruction is a nonprofit organization that provides canned food to local food banks in cities by holding Canstruction competitions where participants construct art installations comprised entirely of canned food that is afterwards donated. Western Beef donated between 4,500 and 6,000 cans of food to company partner, Marin Architects, whom constructed the installation. Afterwards, cans from all 30 installations were donated to food bank, City Harvest. City Harvest is New York City’s largest food rescue organization, helping to feed the more than 1.2 million New Yorkers who are struggling to put meals on their tables, mostly from reallocating excess food from businesses that would have otherwise been discarded.

27_Marin-Architects_Troika-Hyperbola_PHOTO-CREDIT-Ashok-Sinha-

Troika Hyperbola
by Marin Architects x Western Beef

Western Beef is proud of attending this year’s event and look forward to participating in the future. Food insecurity is an issue that one family should have to face and as the premier New York supermarket, we believe it is our duty to be a part of the solution to this tragic problem. For more information on Canstruction NY please visit their website at http://www.sdanyc.org/canstruction.

Western Beef’s charity organization, the Castellana Foundation, proudly supports the East Side House Settlement

Western Beef, parent company Cactus Holdings, and Peter Castellana III on behalf of the Castellana family, proudly supports the East Side House Settlement of the south Bronx.

East Side House is a community-based organization in the South Bronx. We work with schools, community centers and other partners to bring quality education and resources to residents of the Bronx and Northern Manhattan.

Recognizing education as the key to economic and civic opportunity, we help approximately 10,000 individuals improve their lives each year with programs ranging from basic literacy to specialized technology training.

The Castellana Foundation is proud to be able to support such an organization as they sought help to feed families of the community in need during the holidays. Please visit their website for more information on this incredible organization

Recent Community Engagement at Western Beef

Here are the three latest published charitable contributions by Western Beef, Cactus Holdings and the Castellana Foundation:

Mercy Center of Mott Haven, Bronx

The Castellana Foundation, Western Beef, Cactus Holdings, and CEO & President Peter Castellana III are proud to announce their support for Mercy Center in the neighborhood of Mott Haven in the South Bronx. Mercy Center currently has two locations in the Bronx and serves as a volunteer counseling service for single mother families in an effort to combat economic poverty. The Castellana Foundation is proud to be support behind such a noble cause in our communities. The South Bronx is a community that Western Beef has long operated within and supported. To have the opportunity to give back to economically at-risk families is a cause that we must fight together as a community, a city and a country.

For more information on Mercy Center or to learn how you can contribute to this cause then please visit their website.

2. Growing Love Community Garden of Manorhaven, NY

The Castellana Foundation, Western Beef, Cactus Holdings and CEO Peter Castellana III, are proud to announce their support for the Growing Love Community Garden of Manorhaven, NY. The Mission of the Growing Love Community Garden of Manorhaven is to connect their diverse community to healthy food, nature and each other. This is obviously a natural fit for the Castellana Foundation, having given much in their charitable donations to healthy food and food scarcity causes. A representative from the Growing Love Community Garden had this to say about the donation:

“The season was one of phenomenal growth with 46 individual beds and 5 educational beds overflowing with flowers, vegetables and herbs. We have planted 6 native trees, built a beautiful pergola from fallen locust limbs and constructed a long bed solely for food donation to our local pantry. A lot has been accomplished in this year!

We are truly grateful for your help.

We ended this growing season on October 28th with a Harvest Festival and were granted a garden Blessing by the Bishop who was saying Mass across the street… very moving. “

Photos were provided by a volunteer.

For inquiries about the project please contact them through their contact page.

3. Western Beef donates turkeys to Grow NYC for families for Thanksgiving

The Castellana Foundation, Western Beef, parent company Cactus Holdings and President Peter Castellana III, proudly announce their support for GrowNYC who will facilitate food donations to families for the Thanksgiving holidays at their Food Hub at Grand Army Plaza. GrowNYC helps New Yorkers by providing essential services and taking action to make NYC a truly livable city, one where every person can flourish. They achieve this through their Green Market which provides a means for local farmers to sell their products to New York City communities, their recycling program, gardening program which spans the five boroughs, and through education. For the Castellana Foundation, the causes that GrowNYC addresses are ones that the foundation and companies are not only already engaged with, but causes we truly care about and therefore are thrilled to be able to help in a small way by donating turkeys for this year’s Thanksgiving.

Mix-use mega development project with Western Beef breaks ground in Jamaica

Published by Times Ledger

By Naeisha Rose

From l. to r.) Community Board 12 Chairwoman Renee Hill, Patrol Borough South Ast. Chief David Barrere, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Omni co-Managing Dir. Maurice “Mo” Vaughn, NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett, and Omni co-Managing Directors Eugene Schneur and Robert Bennett break ground on an affordable housing complex in Jamaica.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Jamaica to mark the start of construction on a 100 percent affordable housing and mixed-used development that will provide more than 380 apartment units, a supermarket and 300 permanent jobs to the southeast Queens neighborhood.

The Archer Green Apartments was a defunct housing project that was picked up by the Jamaica NOW Action Plan, a proposal by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz’s offices to work with residents, local stakeholders, businesses and city agencies to collaborate and work on ways in developing the southeast Queens neighborhood, according to nyc.gov.

During Katz’s Sept. 21 speech about transforming the former 168th Street parking garage into an affordable apartment complex, as well as a shopping center and supermarket, she thanked her Deputy President Melva Miller for the idea.

“She was the one for Jamaica NOW and came into the office one day and said we need to do something [to revitalize Jamaica] and partner with the [mayor’s] administration,” said Katz.

The former New York City Police Department parking garage, which was located at 92-23 168th St., was underutilized, but will make way for the affordable housing units split between two towers on 370,000 square-feet of land, according to Shavone Williams, a spokeswoman for the city’s Economic Development Corporation.

“There is over 380 affordable housing units here, and 174 of them will be permanently affordable,” said Paula Carethers, the executive vice president of real estate for the Housing Development Corporation, who also spoke on behalf of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “Working with the EDC and the NYPD, we will create new parking facilities for them.”

According to Fred Abbate, the vice president of construction from Omni New York — the company responsible for developing the Archer Green Apartments — there will be 87 residential parking spots, 69 retail parking spots and 49 parking spots for the police department on the lower level of the development.

Approximately 15,000 square-feet of space will be used for a community facility and 68,800 square-feet will be set aside for retail and commercial space, most of which would go to Western Beef, a supermarket chain that will be providing most of the permanent jobs, according to Williams. The rest of the commercial space has not been confirmed as of yet.

Some of the community facility will be green space fit for residents to barbecue at, according to Abbate. According to the vice president of construction, Western Beef will be situated between the two towers where the apartment units will be.

The towers consist of a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, according to Williams.

The project will also create 350 construction jobs, according to EDC President and CEO James Patchett.

“Archer Green Apartments is a game-changing project that will help spur economic growth in the heart of downtown Jamaica,” said Patchett.

HDC put in $30 million for the units and received an additional $80 million volume cap from the federal government to get the project off the ground.

“That was a resource that was going to be taken away during the [federal] budget hearings in December [2017],” Carethers said regarding the $80 million in funds. “The Public Activity Volume Cap… is something that is allocated to every state to issue tax-exempt bonds, and the volume cap is what we use to issue our bonds, and the bonds go towards providing mortgages at low-interest rates for the projects.”

According to state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), the Archer Green Apartments was something that was in development from before he was in office in the City Council in 2002.

“Unfortunately, under [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg, they weren’t going to put in enough affordable [units]… to serve the community, and that is why it failed in two previous attempts,” said Comrie. “It would have been above market value and I couldn’t allow the last large-sized city-owned lot in our district to be above that.”

Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4573.

Updated 9:36 am, October 1, 2018

Groundbreaking Ceremony for Western Beef Mega Project in Jamaica, Queens Draws Community Leaders and Politicians

Ground broken on Archer apartments

Groundbreaking took place for the Archer Green Apartments in Jamaica last Friday. The ceremony included Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, former New York Met Mo Vaughn, Councilman Daneek Miller and state Sen. Leroy Comrie, among others.

Politicians and representatives of Omni New York broke ground on Archer Green Apartments in Jamaica last Friday morning. The site at the corner of 168th Street and Archer and 93rd avenues formerly held an NYPD garage.

The building, which will consist of approximately 44,000 square feet, will hold more than 350 units of affordable housing with a community facility and retail space including a Western Beef supermarket.

“I’m excited,” Borough President Melinda Katz said. “Queens is popping. People are coming here, living here, playing here, spending their money here, making their money here.”

She said families want to move to the borough while officials also want to let current residents age with dignity. “That means we need to provide housing,” Katz said. “We need to provide places where the infrastructure of our families can survive.”

The Jamaica Now Action Plan was released in 2015 with strategies to revitalize the community.

“We’re finally starting to see it, with the series of projects by [the Economic Development Corp.] and other city agencies and partnership with our elected officials to really advance the future of Jamaica to realize its potential,” said EDC President and CEO James Patchett.

“I’m amazed at this lot,” said state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans). “I never realized it was so big.”

Comrie, who went to Jamaica High School and worked in the area, spent a lot of time walking past and parking in the garage over the years. He said there were ups and downs with the development, which was proposed twice while he was in the City Council.

“At the end of the day, this is a needed project for our community,” Comrie said. “This is a project that will truly change the dynamics of this part of Jamaica. It will truly be a great improvement and from what I’ve seen in the renderings so far, it’ll definitely increase the quality of life for people in this community.”

Councilman Daneek Miller (D-St. Albans) said that the groundbreaking was an exciting day because of the time it took to get to this point. The proposal went out in 2008, during the recession.

“We could’ve turned away from this project in its inception, in those difficult moments,” Miller said.

Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman (D-Springfield Gardens) is also pleased with the progress as she remembered coming to Jamaica Avenue as a kid with her mom and occasionally using the lot.

“Growing up in this area it’s amazing to see this community transform and be a continous part of that,” Hyndman said.

She added that the children who get jobs in the area are the ones who will grow up and take over.

“It is important that the community sees themselves in the projects that come up in this community and the local hires,” Hyndman said.

Of the housing units, 174 will be permanently affordable, according to Paula Carethers, New York City Housing Development Corp. executive vice president.

“Which means we’re not just creating housing but we’re creating communities and we’re creating opportunities for people to grow and stay in their community and pass down their apartments to their children and their family,” Carethers said.

She said the HDC put $30 million of its own capital into the project plus $80 million of “volume capital.” It looked like it would be taken away last year but after a battle, the project moved ahead.

The city selected Omni New York LLC to develop the project.

“These projects where you have affordable housing, you have retail, you have government resources, you have private resources, it’s really a public-private partnership and it’s a puzzle,” said Eugene Schneur, co-managing director of the company. “You’re kind of putting the puzzle together and sometimes it takes longer than we all wish but as long as we get there, that’s what’s most important.”

Another co-managing director is former Mets first baseman Mo Vaughn, who played the final two seasons of his All-Star career at Shea Stadium.

“It’s good to still be here and working and trying to do some great things,” Vaughn said.

Story by Queens Chronicle

Written by David Russell, Associate Editor

Western Beef’s mega-project in Jamaica, Queens is well underway

Rendering by Marin Architects

As part of a massive mix-use project, Western Beef, subsidiary of Cactus Holdings Inc., is coming to Jamaica, Queens. The incredible project is being financed by the city’s Housing Development Corporation. In total, the loan amount is $169.8 million which was secured by Omni New York. Omni was selected by the New York Economic Development Corporation (NYEDC) to develop the project. Western Beef has a long history with the NYEDC in pioneering former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program which is intended to combat food deserts in economically depressed areas. Western Beef to this day is a proud proponent of the program with most of its new stores residing in FRESH zones.

The property address is 92–23 168th Street and will offer a 23-story, 413,000-square-foot mixed-use building with 68,800 square feet for retail, 333,000 square feet for residential and a 47,600-square-foot parking lot. The property will offer 389 apartment units in total.

The project was first made public by the RealDeal on July 17, 2018

The project is of monumental proportions for the area. Ultimately this project coincides with Western Beef’s vision as retailer focused on providing goods and services to areas that have historically been viewed as undeserved. To be a part of a project that offers quality new construction for housing, parking, retail opportunities, and a Western Beef, fits right into our vision as a company.

Groundbreaking reported by Curbed New York on September 21, 2018

Construction began on September 21st, 2018. The project is a part of the Jamaica NOW Action Plan put forth by the de Blasio administration two years ago. The project fits into the $153 million revitalization effort to spur economic growth for small businesses, provide workforce training, and create green spaces and infrastructural improvements in the neighborhood.

Western Beef partners with Senator Addabbo to help restock Glendale’s Sacred Heart Food Pantry

Photo courtesy of the office of Senator Addabbo

By QNS Staff
editorial@queenscourier.com
Wednesday, October 3, 2018

BY EMMA MILLER

Western Beef Supermarket delivered two pallets of food to the Sacred Heart Food Pantry in Glendale on Oct. 1 through an arrangement made with state Senator Joseph Addabbo.

The donation included macaroni and cheese, juice boxes, coffee, bread, canned food and other items.

“I am very happy that I was able to successfully bring these two great entities together for the benefit of those individuals in need,” Addabbo said. “This donation alone will go a long way in helping so many families who are struggling to put food on the table. I am grateful for the efforts of the Sacred Heart pantry for assisting so many people and for Western Beef to willingly be a credible member of the community.”

Addabbo helped resolve a delivery issue between Western Beef and the food pantry. He said that he hopes to help the partnership continue in the future.

“Western Beef has always seen itself as part of the larger community, and so it is our pleasure to assist the Sacred Heart Food Pantry in its mission to aid others in need,” said Kathy Rivera, title compliance administrator at Western Beef. “After this initial food donation, we look forward to working with the food pantry and Senator Joe Addabbo towards the possibility of partnering in the future with the Sacred Heart Food Pantry.”

Western Beef Supermarket is a chain of grocery stores with locations across New York, New Jersey and Florida. They were founded over 30 years ago and have two stores in Queens, in Flushing and Jamaica.

The Sacred Heart Food Pantry is a ministry of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Glendale. They are open to distribute food to those who need it Monday through Thursday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Anyone wishing to donate food can call the office of parish ministries at 718-821-3285.

Prizes that are relevant to our customers

post winner

Western Beef is proud to announce that we will now be conducting weekly contests through our social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) and our email mailing list (enter your email in the subscription box at the lower right corner). Prizes are funded through the generosity of the Castellana Foundation, whose board member, Peter Castellana III, is also the President of Western Beef parent company Cactus Holdings Inc. So far Western Beef has run many contests with multiple $500 gift card winners and recently a monthly MetroCard. We aim for our contests to be relevant to our customers’ daily lives so they spend their hard earned money on things other than reoccurring expense such as bills and groceries. A recent winner of ours was more than grateful for the financial boost:

“$500 is a lot of money. It’s basically what I spend at the supermarket in any given month so to have Western Beef cover me and my family for a month is a very big deal to me. I’m so thankful. Now I can buy something nice for us that I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. I wish more companies did this! I feel like they really are more than just another supermarket.” — M.G., Bronx, NY

Western Beef management has been very happy with the response so far with their contests:

“At first we just kinda wanted to see if there was any customer interest in contests. Shortly after we started our first campaign we realized that this was something our customers wanted. Thousands of customers were participating from all over. While we were happy with the response, we took a step back and made a personal stand in that we wanted to run relevant contests that spoke to our customers and actually served them well. It’s who we are as a company. We serve working families in the inner city.” — Western Beef Social Media Manager

For those interested in our contests please follow us on social media or join our mailing list at the Western Beef website for instructions on how to enter. Currently, the contest is for a monthly MetroCard.

If you are a company or organization with prizes or services that you think would be relevant as prizes for our customers, then please reach out to us at socialmedia@westernbeef.com.

Western Beef and Cactus Holdings’ 22nd Annual Employee Appreciation BBQ

Western Beef / Cactus Holdings 22nd Annual Employee Appreciation BBQ from Cactus Holdings on Vimeo.

On September 16th, 2018, Western Beef hosted its 22nd Annual Employee Appreciation BBQ. The event took place from 4 PM to 8 PM EST in Ridgewood, Queens at the Western Beef headquarters, shared with parent company Cactus Holdings Inc. The event offered typical BBQ staples such as burgers, hot dogs as well as a variety of specialty treats such as Mamita’s flavored ice. For children there were carnival rides and games, a climbing wall, live music and for the employees there were live drawings all night for prizes ranging from flat screen TVs to a $10,000 cash grand prize. Employees and their families were bused in from all over the city and New Jersey, paid for by Western Beef. Over a thousand employees and their families attended the event. The event was attended by the Castellana Foundation board members, including Peter Castellana Jr., and Peter Castellana III. Overall, it was an incredible event full of smiles, good food, and a great activities. Western Beef looks forward to many more in the future.

Western Beef would like to thank all of its vendors that attended and supported the event:

U.S. Marine Corps

The American Red Cross

Mamita’s

Sun Hing Foods

Arnold’s Meats

Iberia Corp.

AC Bakery Distributors

Pepsi

E&M Ice Cream Inc.

W.M. Brown Group

Cibao Meat