For decades, Hunts Point Produce Market in the South Bronx has fed the city while serving as a symbol of environmental injustice. Many of the fruits and vegetables New Yorkers eat are first stored in refrigerated trailers that spew diesel fumes into the poorest, most unhealthy neighborhood in the five boroughs.
By the end of last year, city officials thought they’d finally found a solution. They announced a plan to replace warehouses built in 1967 with a new “state of the art intermodal food distribution facility” that would improve air quality for nearly 13,000 Bronx residents.
But now, the deal — estimated to be worth $650 million — has fallen apart.
What was supposed to have been a major economic development achievement for Mayor Zohran Mamdani has instead led to frustration from Bronx officials who are scrambling to try to salvage a transformative project.
“I’ve been trying to sound the alarm and try to find ways to get people to pay attention to what is happening,” said City Councilmember Justin Sanchez, who represents the district. “Because it really feels like it has gone unnoticed and just thrown under the rug.”
Some former administration officials blamed Mamdani for taking nearly seven months to appoint a leader at the Economic Development Corporation, the agency in charge of the plan. Others point out that the powerful cooperative of roughly two dozen families who control produce at Hunts Point are hard-nosed, old-school negotiators.
Funding for the project was supposed to come from an assortment of agencies, including $145 million in federal grants and an unprecedented $225 million loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation. But the unraveling of the deal has put the money in jeopardy. The transportation agency recently removed Hunts Point from its list of funded projects in the pipeline.
Plan to Modernize NYC’s Diesel-Spewing Produce Market falls Apart Under Mamdani
