Hunts Point market walks away from talks with city

101 Food Center Drive
101 Food Center Drive

Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market is walking away from the Bloomberg administration’s offers of $172.5 million in grants in hopes that the next mayor will offer a better deal.

The administration has failed to pull away the city’s Business Integrity Commission, which the market accuses of stifling growth by issuing parking tickets and limiting the produce center’s hours of operation, according to members.

“There is no reason to negotiate with the present administration,” Sid Davidoff, the market’s lawyer, told the New York Post.

The co-op held a 30-year lease that expired in 2011 and a three-year gap lease that ends in May. And despite a seven-year option to stay in the current location at 101 Food Center Drive, a question of much-needed redevelopment hung over the failed negotiations.

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The failed proceedings have led the co-op, which is comprised of 42 business owners, to consider sites in Westchester and New Jersey as alternatives.

The chief concern is the need for modern refrigerated warehouses, which co-op representatives say need to have 13 different temperatures and conditions for different produce.

“We really need to bring it up to the 21st century,” Davidoff told the Post. [NYP]Julie Strickland