Bronx Market Merchants May Face Eviction
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The eviction of the two dozen merchants occupying the Bronx Terminal Market could be imminent after the state Supreme Court rejected their plea to stay put. The purveyors of wholesale food and produce and their hundreds of employees, some of whom have occupied the Bronx specialty market for decades, will likely be displaced by a shopping mall. They have been fighting for a better relocation package.
In April 2004, the city leased the market land to a developer, the Related Companies, in a deal some criticized for its abundance of subsidies and lack of consideration for the merchants’ fragile businesses. In December, the city planning commission approved Related’s plan for a $394 million “Gateway Mall,” a 1 million-square-foot retail development on a 16-acre site just south of Yankee Stadium that includes the market. The project, which has the strong support of Mayor Bloomberg due to the prospects of new jobs and for redeveloping a downtrodden neighborhood, must pass through the City Council in the weeks ahead.
Yesterday, Council Member Helen Foster, a Democrat of the Bronx, called the court’s Tuesday decision unfortunate. She predicted the project would face scrutiny from the Bronx delegation of council members as it works its way through that body’s land use process.
“Until there is some effort to place the merchants all together that is feasible and makes this a win-win situation for the merchants, the community, and the owners, I don’t see it going through land use without some bumps and bruises,” Ms. Foster told The New York Sun.
An official for Related, Glenn Goldstein, called the decision “good news.”
“It means that with the approval of the City Council, the blighted, dilapidated and unproductive facility will be transformed into Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market – a job-generating, community-serving retail center,” Mr. Goldstein said in a statement.
The city says it has proposed several alternative locations for the merchants, including a wholesale food facility in Hunts Point, which the merchants have rejected. The lawyer representing the merchants, Adrian Zuckerman, was unavailable yesterday to say whether the merchants are planning an appeal.
