It looks like the Hunts Point area of the Bronx is indeed becoming a home for the food industry. Four months after online grocer FreshDirect said it was decamping from its long-time headquarters in Long Island City, Queens to a site in the Harlem River Yard in Hunts Point, Chefs’ Warehouse has agreed to take over a 176,000-square-foot building that it currently shares space in, according to The New York Times.
The specialty-foods distributor will take over the entire space in June 2013 and is the first major expansion of a company in the area in three years. Unlike FreshDirect, Chefs’ Warehouse will not receive public subsidies for its expansion. FreshDirect got $128 million in funds and tax breaks to build its new Bronx home. The deal comes at a time when the city and state are in talks to renovate and expand the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market, which was recently awarded a $10 million grant from the federal Transportation Department. That money will be used to improve the freight-rail there. The effort to expand the food industry in the Bronx area has generated much criticism from local residents, who fear pollution and noise from all the truck traffic. The city said it is working with the community to redirect truck traffic away from residential areas and encourage companies to use alternative food, the Times said.
Meanwhile, more changes may be in store for New York University’s controversial plans to expand its campus in Greenwich Village by 2 million square feet. The area’s local City Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who will play a major role in the ultimate approval of the plan, is seeking major modifications to the plan, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this month, despite Community Board 2’s unanimous vote against the plan, the Department of City Planning voted in favor of the proposal with some changes. The plan now moves on to the City Council and mayor for final approval. Among the requested changes were eliminating a planned hotel, shrinking some dormitory space in one new proposed building and removing a temporary gym. Ms. Chin has expressed empathy with local groups who would like to see a further scaling back of NYU’s expansion that would include more open space and a smaller version of the proposed Zipper Building, the Journal said.
MORE LINKS:
9/11 Memorial at center of gubernatorial tussle (The Wall Street Journal)
60 acres of Flushing Waterfront to be revived (The Queens Courier)
New York City sees one of sharpest declines in construction jobs: study (Newsday)
Cake Boss reality TV star seeing up sweetery in Port Authority (New York Post)
Dog concierge services come to UWS buildings (New York Daily News)
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