BRONX W www.BXTimes.com EEKLY August 11, 2019 6
Greenmarket Regional Food Hub takes root in Hunts Point
An architectural rendering of the NYS Greenmarket Regional Food Hub. Photo courtesy of NYCEDC
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BY ROBERT WIRSING
A statewide greenmarket food
hub will soon take root in the south
Bronx.
As part of his FY2020 capital budget,
Borough President Ruben Diaz,
Jr. announced on Thursday, July 25
that he will provide $650,000 in capital
funding towards establishing the
NYS Greenmarket Regional Food
Hub.K
nown as ‘The Hub,’ the over $25
million, 2-story, 75,000 square foot
distribution facility will be located
in Hunts Point and operated by nonprofi
t GrowNYC.
It will include a refrigerated area
for local business and farms, a food
processing area, a distribution center
and a wholesale farmers’ market.
The BLD Architecture designed
facility will occupy the former auxiliary
parking lot next to the Fulton
Fish Market and the current site of
the seasonal Wholesale Greenmarket
near Halleck Street and Viele Avenue.
The land is owned by the city and
would be leased, according to the
NYC Economic Development Corporation.
A GrowNYC spokeswoman confi
rmed that The Hub’s eco-friendly
design includes a combo solar and
green roof, an electric truck charging
station, bio-digester and a green
wall among many other sustainability
features.
The Hub’s paved parking lot is
60,000 square feet and includes space
for 27 car stalls.
Five GrowNYC trucks are currently
planned to be used at the facility.
The Hub will transport approximately
20 million pounds of local produce
annually.
It will also create 95 permanent
living-wage jobs and 150 construction
jobs in Hunts Point.
The project is anticipated to begin
in fall 2019 and will be completed in
spring 2021.
Marcel Van Ooyen, GrowNYC
president, noted that local farmers
are suffering from a lack of access to
business opportunities in the NYC
marketplace and underserved communities
lack access to fresh, local
foods and the jobs and resources that
make them available.
“With The Hub we are addressing
all of these needs,” stated Van
Ooyen.
It will expand GrowNYC’s wholesale
distribution infrastructure
which makes high-quality, local
healthy foods accessible to underserved
New Yorkers via wholesale
buyers such as restaurants and institutions
and through innovative
partnerships with nonprofi t organizations.
The Hub will fortify rural communities
by paying farmers fairly for
the food they produce.
“The food industry is one of the
most signifi cant economic engines
in our borough and this project will
only help that sector expand and
grow stronger,” expressed Diaz.
This past April, GrowNYC received
a $200,000 grant from the NYS
Health Foundation to support its food
distribution programs Greenmarket
Co., Youthmarket and Fresh Food
Box.T
he funding allows GrowNYC
to continue operating the Uptown
Grand Central Fresh Food Box and
Lower East Side and Brownsville Pitkin
Youthmarkets which distribute
over 95,000 pounds of food annually.
The Hub will distribute food
throughout NYC and increase access
to affordable, healthy foods and fresh
produce in underserved communities.
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