The owners of the Foodtown supermarket on 204th Street in Norwood that burned down in a horrific fire last winter say they have successfully navigated the city’s building bureaucracy and are poised to begin construction on a new facility. Now, all they need is the steel that will form the framework of the structure.

Last week, Dan Katz, one of the supermarket’s co-owners, said in an e-mail that acquiring the steel would take six to eight weeks. After the arrival of the steel, Katz said “the community should see constant activity” at the constructions site. 

“The construction plans have been approved which means that, pending some additional paperwork that the Department of Buildings requires, we will then be allowed to pull the construction permit,” Katz said in the e-mail.

Once the steel is on site, Katz said the company should have a better idea of when they will be open for business again. “Nobody wants to see the store reopened faster than the company,” Katz said.  

The new supermarket will be much larger and offer many more options than the old one. Foodtown is expanding into the space formerly occupied by the American Diner and a dentist’s office, which were both destroyed along with the supermarket in a fire last Dec. 21.

In January, Mohammed Quadir, the owner of American Diner, was indicted and charged with hiring someone to set fire to the restaurant, which resulted in the destruction of all three businesses. Pre-trial hearings for Quadir’s case are scheduled to begin in September, according to a spokesperson for the Bronx District Attorney’s office.

Meanwhile, the Bank of America branch adjacent to the Foodtown site that sustained significant damage from the fire is hoping to re-open in September, according to spokesman T.J. Crawford.

“We’re looking forward to once again serving the community,” Crawford said, adding that customers have been able to access the branch’s safe deposit boxes on Monday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon throughout the renovation process.