Hunts Point produce market to stay in the Bronx, at least for now

The Hunts Point produce market is closing in on its May 31 lease deadline, but a new long-term agreement with the city is nowhere in sight. According to Crain’s, city officials and the vendors that make up the 1 million-square-foot Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Market are now scrambling to come up with a temporary lease extension that would keep the market in the Bronx for the next several years and would allow them to continue negotiations over a 30- or 40-year lease that would include a $320 million renovation of the outdated facility. It would also allow the vendors to continue being courted by New Jersey officials, who have been pushing them to relocate to the Garden State, reportedly offering tax incentives as part of the package. Some 47 percent of the current Hunts Point vendors say they are in favor of leaving the rundown New York City site. [Crain’s]