Merchants in the Hunts Point Terminal Market continue talking about new and modern facilities, but in reality they are going nowhere. Realistically, construction of such a facility will never happen.
For example, look at the 20014 agreement signed by market officials and the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which renewed the wholesale market’s lease for seven years.
There also have been major improvements by large produce wholesalers such as Nathel & Nathel Inc., S. Katzman Produce Inc., and E. Armata Inc., which operates from 24.5 market units and has made large investments into its facilities.
These wholesale distributors are not wasting their monies. When you see companies spending this kind of money, you know Hunts Point isn’t going anywhere.
The historic Hunts Point neighborhood location in the South Bronx, provides an ideal location for the facility because it is close to New York City’s area metropolitan boroughs.
There has been talk about a new market in New York for more than a decade.
How would you get all of these merchants into the new market over time or at the same time? I don’t foresee any change.”
“There’s been a lot of talk about this market moving or rebuilding,” said Sheldon Nathel, vice president of Nathel & Nathel recently. “This has been going on for 13-14 years. A lot of the people on the market seem to be putting a lot more money into their stores lately. We followed suit. Who knows where this market will be in five years?”
Federal government monies are being actively pursed by Hunts Point leaders to upgrade the world’s largest fresh produce terminal. There are 22 million people in the Tri-State area that Hunts Point serves.
The facilities at Hunts Point are antiquated and everything from old plumbing to grid lock is constantly causing problems. There often are electrical lines reported exploding and transformers breaking for lack of capacity.