Demolition on two, out-of-the-way commercial buildings in downtown Roslyn was completed last Monday. Both buildings were owned by Ahold Real Estate, the Atlanta-based Dutch company which also owns Edwards Food Stores, the company which in past years inherited the land through their own acquisition of Stop & Shop supermarkets.

The demolition was seen as a good will gesture made on top of a similar gesture by Ahold last summer. In August, Ahold, with the support of the Roslyn Chamber of Commerce, filed a permit to the Village of Roslyn to build a 70-space parking lot on the former Stop & Shop site.

That permit, which has yet to be acted on, was made after Chamber of Commerce president Frederic Carlton advised Ahold to "make a show of good faith" to village merchants by building a parking lot that would come at no cost to village taxpayers.

The suggestion came after Edwards lost their most recent bid to build a 86,000-sq. ft. supermarket in downtown Roslyn. In May, the Roslyn Site Review Board turned down a building plan similar to the original Stop & Shop construction design which called for about the same amount of land and whose defeat set off a political upheaval in the village.

The application Ahold filed last August called for a parking lot with 70 spaces, including its own lighting and insurance. It is designed to be a temporary lot used by business district employees and customers while the current litigation over supermarket construction is being resolved.

Oddly enough, both Mr. Carlton and Ed Pabich, executive vice president for Ahold have been on opposite sides during the ongoing litigation battles. But that didn't stop both men from joining forces in this particular issue. Noting that the current legal action could remain a drawn-out process, both sides agreed that the property off Skillman Street should not lay dormat while the courts decide pending litigation.

"Litigants need to talk," Mr. Carlton said last summer. "I could hold a grudge and say, 'they sued me,' meanwhile, downtown wouldn't get any parking."