The former Price Chopper building in Lee has sat empty since it closed in 2017. In early April, the town offered to buy the property. Previously, a developer proposed turning the lot into affordable housing and commercial space.

LEE — It's been nearly a decade since Price Chopper's parent company, The Golub Corporation, announced it would close the store's downtown location, yet no business or development has sprung up on the property.

The empty building at 88 W. Park St. remains a prominent gap in town, which no longer has a walkable grocery store. Failed development proposals, a protracted legal dispute and an ownership change have all delayed efforts to put the site back into use.

In early April, the town of Lee put in a formal offer to buy the property. Previously, a developer proposed turning the lot into affordable housing and commercial space.

The property has been tied up in a lawsuit filed by neighboring business Zabian's Fine Jewelry, which claims it has the right to continue using a piece of Golub's property, specifically parking spaces that have been reserved for store customers for 41 years.

The case was eventually settled under undisclosed terms, and Zabian’s agreed to purchase the property for $1.35 million in February.

The lot, however, remains empty, with residents wondering what comes next.

Zabian's declined to comment for this story. Golub did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The grocery store was originally built for the Lee Super Market chain in 1960. Price Chopper took over the space in 1972, and The Golub Corporation bought the property in 1986.

The parcel has two access roads, one extending to West Park Street and one to Lee's Main Street.

As Golub began converting Price Choppers to Market 32s across the country, it decided to close the Lee location, citing the building's size, of 17,000 square feet, as too small.

The Price Chopper in Lee closed in 2017 after its parent company, Golub Corporation, cited the buildings small-size as not making sense for a grocery store. The building has been empty since.

In 2018, Benchmark Development, a Great Barrington-based developer, planned to demolish the building and replace it with a multi-family, mixed-use space. A purchase and sale agreement between the developer and Golub was never finalized.

Benchmark Development did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Although the proposed development exceeded the town’s 35-foot height limit, officials tried to work with the developers.

"We actually made a zoning change to allow that," said Christopher Brittain, Lee's town administrator.

The zoning change went into effect May 2019, but the development still fell through.

One of the biggest obstacles to redevelopment was a lawsuit filed in 2020 by neighboring business Zabian’s Fine Jewelry. The complaint argued the store should be granted a prescriptive easement for at least a portion of the access road off of Main Street.

In a prescriptive easement, one party claims they have a right to use a piece of property they don't own but have been openly using, according to Brad Gordon, executive director of UpSide413, a nonprofit that offers legal advice regarding housing.

Parking spaces reserved for customers of Zabian's Fine Jewelry were the main subject of the store's lawsuit against the Golub Corporation, the parent company of Price Chopper. Zabian's claimed since it had used these spaces without permission for 41 years, it now had a right to use those spaces.

Zabian's claimed that since it has used the lot for customer parking — including placing "Zabian's Customer Parking Only" signs in the lot — without Golub complaining, the store has a right to keep parking there. Prescriptive easement is also known as the use-it-or-lose-it law.

In order to successfully argue for a prescriptive easement, the suing party must have used the property openly and without permission for 20 continuous years, Gordon said. If Golub had given Zabian's permission to park there at any point, the jewelry store wouldn't have a claim.

The outcome of prescriptive easement cases "can be a flip of a coin," Gordon said.

Zabian's and Golub reached an undisclosed settlement to conclude the lawsuit. The property would later be sold to Zabian's for $1.35 million.

"That makes a lot of sense," Gordon said. "They figured out what was mutually beneficial."

At the Lee Select Board meeting on April 7, board members and Brittain revealed the town had made a formal offer — pending both appraisal of the property and the town's vote of approval — to Zabian's to purchase the property for $1.9 million.

The offer included giving Zabian's the right to use the parking spaces that spurred the lawsuit.

"I think that was about the most we could offer and still be considered a reasonable amount," Brittain said.

The town planned to demolish the building and create parking or add public green space, he said. Zabian's declined the offer.

Zabian's Fine Jewelry has begun putting up "For Lease" signs around the property of the former Price Chopper. Although town residents want a grocery store back in the space, the purchase agreement Zabian's made bars the store from leasing to a grocery store.

Currently, Zabian's is looking to lease the building. However, there is one business that can't move in: another grocery store.

The purchase agreement includes a provision that prohibits Zabian's from leasing the space to a business that sells "food products for off-premises consumption," according to documents from the Middle Berkshire Registry of Deeds.

Town residents made a “big push” to bring another grocery store to the site, Brittain said, but even without the restriction, it was unlikely — the town reached out to several grocery chains and received no interest.

Still, the parcel sits in a prime downtown location, leaving town officials hopeful — but uncertain — about what will finally take its place.

"We hope that something goes in there that people will appreciate and enjoy having around," Brittain said.