Bronx gets produce market for 3 more years

The lease for the 1 million-square-foot Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Market expired yesterday, and today the Wall Street Journal brings word that its vendors have reached a tentative deal with the city to stay in the South Bronx for three more years while the two sides hammer out a more long-term arrangement. Per the terms of the deal, the co-op will negotiate exclusively with the city for the next nine months over the construction of a new facility and a long-term lease. As of last week, the two sides were reportedly nowhere near such an agreement, and 47 percent of Hunts Point vendors were in favor of leaving the outdated Bronx facility, but now the city has bought itself some time to convince the market not to relocate to New Jersey, which has also been courting the market with offers of tax incentives and other benefits. [WSJ]