On November 28, CFF partnered with GrowNYC to host an insider’s tour of the new, soon-to-be opened New York State Regional Food Hub. The day served as an exciting and long-awaited sequel to a briefing we held in 2015 about the need for this facility and infrastructure like it.
The day began with lunch at The Point CDC, where participants were treated to delicious food by Bascom Catering and an introduction to the Hunts Point neighborhood by Maria Torres, President & COO, and Dariella Rodriguez, Director of Community Development. We heard about the community’s long fight for environmental justice, and steps the organization has taken to improve food access and food security for local residents.
From there, attendees boarded the Bronx Culture Trolley for a short ride over to the site of the new Hub.
Once at The Hub, GrowNYC President Marcel Van Ooyen led us on a tour of the building where all construction is nearly finished, but they are still waiting for final sign-off to hook up the electricity. The facility is a 60,000 square foot warehouse with massive cold storage capacity, offices for GrowNYC staff, additional space for a co-tenant, a green roof with amazing views of the Bronx and NYC skyline, all on a 135,000 square foot lot in the Food Distribution Center of Huts Point.
Construction began in March of 2021, and New York State announced a “topping off” ceremony in December of that year when the final beam was put in place. Since then the interior has been built out along with electric and plumbing.
GrowNYC’s wholesale program has been supporting local farmers and distributing food throughout the five boroughs for many years, while currently operating out of a 10,000 square foot warehouse they outgrew the moment they occupied it. This new capacity will allow them to increase their food distribution from 5 million pounds per year to 20 million pounds.
The total cost for the entire project has come in at $46.3 million, with GrowNYC currently fundraising to close the final $5 million gap.
The tour ended with a look at the 40,000 square feet of rentable space that GrowNYC will lease to a tenant until their own programming expands to the size where they can utilize the entire facility. We heard from local Assemblymember Amanda Septimo of the 84th district about her enthusiasm for this project, why she worked so hard to secure State funding, and the union jobs that will be created as a result.
Thank you to our hosts and to everyone who joined us!
Additional resources
- GrowNYC’s Food Hub presentation slides
- GrowNYC’s Regional Food Hub promotional video
- GrowNYC President Marcel Van Ooyen’s TedTalk from 2015