Car shoppers of 91st Street, rejoice – your long, car-less nightmare is almost over.
The southern section of Bay Ridge is one that has been traditionally under-served by car dealerships. At current count, there are only seven showrooms between 88th and 90th Streets. These are flung as far as the west side of Fourth Avenue all the way to the east side of Fifth Avenue.
Yet the area south of 90th Street has been a bit of a no-man’s-land, with no major dealerships on either 91st or 92nd Streets.
This oversight will soon be partially rectified when the new Bay Ridge Hyundai breaks this psychologically-important barrier, and opens up on Fourth Avenue between 90th and 91st Streets.
The new Hyundai showroom will move into the spot formerly occupied by Cranberry’s Restaurant, with the property also including the old Shell gasoline and service station next door. Though the Shell station has been closed for so long, and Cranberry’s was so short-lived, I legitimately don’t remember if they were ever open at the same time.
Previously, automobile shoppers unwilling — or possibly unable — to cross north of 90th were forced to travel in the opposite direction, all the way to a pair of BMW showrooms at 93rd and 94th Streets in what I’m pretty sure is some sort of Staten Island exclave.