After numerous years of negotiations between Hunts Point Cooperative Market members and the City of New York, which owns the market property, things are once again at a standstill. And no one is saying what the next move is likely to be.

Last September, the market got the subsidy it wanted from the Bloomberg administration to revamp and expand the terminal market. But there is a kink in the offer of $172.5 million in cash and tax breaks from the city. The cooperative has reached an impasse over the continuing role of the Business Integrity Commission, a city agency created to root out organized crime in the carting industry. The produce operators say that the commission has overstepped its authority and is interfering with business by setting operating hours and showering delivery and storage trucks with parking tickets.

Matthew D’Arrigo, co-president of the cooperative said the agency feels it has an open-ended power to oversee everything done by the management of the market.

“We fundamentally disagree,” said Mr. D’Arrigo. “Its mission begins and ends with organized crime.”

Mr. D’Arrigo said that cooperative members are talking amongst themselves, and are back at the drawing board. It’s been quiet since the last offer was turned down, and businesses are doing what they do best — handling their businesses.

“When something happens in the future, I think it will happen very quickly,” said Mr. D’Arrigo. “We’ve been down this road more than one time, and we can drive it a lot faster today. It is likely that the city will come back with a deal that we will or won’t want to make, and whatever it is it will likely help to facilitate things.

“When that happens, there will also be a new administration with different players,” he continued. “The Bloomberg administration just ran too hard a game. That’s too bad because we could use the facelift. This market still does one hell of a good job.”

That “job” is for companies on the market to continue to run their businesses, and as a whole for the cooperative to function as the largest food distribution center in the world, with annual revenues that exceed $2 billion annually.

Some cooperative members are very vocal about their feelings, while others prefer to keep their comments “off the record.” But there is a strong mix of “we should stay where we are and rebuild,” “we should renovate completely” or “we should build in a completely different location, possibly somewhere other than in New York” buzzing around.

The newest “kid” on the Hunts Point block is FresCo, a full line house that, in its first two years of business, started a foodservice division and delivery services. This is not the sort of thing one invests in if one doesn’t have hope for a future on Hunts Point.

Charlie DiMaggio, president of FresCo, said he believes that everyone who is on the market wants it to remain in its current location and rebuild.

“It is up to the city to do the right thing,” he told The Produce News. “This market employs about 3,500 people, with another 10,000 jobs that are interconnected and dependent on it. The toll that the city collects from trucks coming from other places is a monumental annual sum. It just isn’t reasonable to think that the city will turn its back on this market.”

Baldor Specialty Foods’ new state-of-the-art building with cutting edge technology built into it sits across the street from Hunts Point. And Baldor’s president, Michael Muzyk, understands well the cost involved in developing a building of its stature.

“Despite the outrageous cost, the politically correct statement here is that no politician would want to be known as the one who allowed Hunts Point to be moved to another state,” said Mr. Muzyk. “Just look at the parking lot at the market — those are New York license plates. Whether anyone likes it or not, Hunts Point supports thousands of people and employs thousands of New Yorkers.”

The city, he added, needs to internalize better. It needs more housing and a better school system.

“Having Hunts Point is just like having a Yankee Stadium,” said Mr. Muzyk. “No Bronx politician is going to let either leave under his reign,” he commented.