City in negotiations to modernize Hunts Point Market

Costs to construct new warehouses, upgrade infrastructure likely to exceed $400M

Hunts Point Market
Hunts Point Market

The Hunts Point produce market, the largest in the world, could finally be getting a modern space befitting its stature. The market’s co-op is negotiating with the city to revamp the site’s outdated facilities by building new warehouses and upgrading the failing infrastructure.

The development would occur in stages, with old warehouses being demolished as new ones are built, the New York Post reported.

The city-owned site, 113 acres and heavily polluted, has been facing space and infrastructure issues for years, and the city has been in negotiation with the 38-member co-op to upgrade. An earlier $400 million plan to improve the site and increase capacity fell through when the co-op members refused to pay for half the costs.

In 2013, the city signed a seven-year lease with the market to keep it from moving to New Jersey, and last year Mayor Bill de Blasio promised to invest $150 million over 12 years to expand and upgrade the facilities.

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The new plan will likely cost more than earlier iterations, but negotiations on cost sharing are underway, according to the Post. The city’s economic development fund is already paying for $10.5 million of capital investment projects, and also committed $8.5 million toward rail upgrades.

FreshDirect, an online grocer, is transitioning its distribution center from Long Island City to an 800,000-square-foot building in Port Morris.

In its November 2015 issue, The Real Deal documented the heightened interest in the Bronx, where the cost of land is cheap but appreciating rapidly. [NYP]Chava Gourarie