Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market has extended its lease negotiations with the City of New York for the third time, according to a report by Crain’s New York Business.com.
The extension prevents the market cooperative from negotiating with New Jersey, where officials have expressed an interest in housing the facility.
The market’s 115 merchants and New York’s Economic Development Corporation apparently agreed last week to continue the talks through 31 October.
Matthew D’Arrigo, the market’s president, said the reason for the extension follows the scheduling of a public hearing on 23 October for city council members to discuss the city’s Business Integrity Commission, which has regulatory authority over the market.
“It seemed like the right thing to do in light of our council hearings,” D'Arrigo told the publication.
Hunts Point tenants have been engaged since 2000 in negotiations with their landlord, New York City, to upgrade the market’s facilities.
Meanwhile, the state of New Jersey has let it be known that it would be interested in accommodating Hunts Point merchants.
In June New York City proposed a US$10m package to upgrade the market on its current site, including doubling coldstorage capacity and incorporating new technologies.
The facility, which opened in 1967, is now in dire need of modernisation as population increases and changes in demographics over the last 45 years have rendered the market undersized and ill-equipped to handle the many new lines of fresh produce it now carries.
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