What will fill this space?

Amid rumors of Stew Leonard’s, residents await a new tenant for former Pathmark

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An orange shopping cart lay on its side in the empty lot, with nothing but hundreds of unused parking spaces between it and the vacated building that once held a Pathmark. Others, just like it, were spread among the unused spaces, the only objects that inhabit the parking lot these days. Occasionally a car passed through from the other side of the shopping center, using the lot as a cut-through to re-enter East Meadow Avenue.

The lot at 1897 Front St., at the intersection with East Meadow Avenue, has been this way since May 2013, when Pathmark vacated a 70,000-square-foot building that is attached to a shopping center that hosts other, smaller retail shops and is bookended to the east by a Marshall’s. Once a vibrant hub in the heart of one of East Meadow’s most popular business districts, the blighted space now represents what local business officials say is the final step in re-energizing East Meadow’s economy.

Rumors last week that a Stew Leonard’s was on the verge of signing a lease to open a superstore there sent a buzz through the local community. But a spokeswoman from the business downplayed any notion that a deal was imminent.

“We are looking at a number of different sites throughout Long Island, but nothing is confirmed at this time,” Meghan Bell, the director of public relations for Stew Leonard’s, told the Herald on July 8, a day after Long Island Business News reported that “industry sources” said that the company intended to open in East Meadow.

Stew Leonard’s is set to open a Farmingdale location in early 2016. And while Bell did not confirm or deny that East Meadow is a possible second location, she said there was no timetable for when a decision might be made. “That’s really where our energy is going right now,” she said, referring to the Farmingdale opening. “We received a really, really warm welcome from everybody on Long Island, so we’re excited, and that’s the reason why we’re looking to do another location if we can.”

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