Myra Gordon: New York trade must have a new market
Myra Gordon: New York trade must have a new market
BRONX, NY " For business to grow at New York?s Hunts Point Terminal Market, the facility must rebuild and expand, according to Myra Gordon, executive administrative director and assistant to the president of the New York Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association Inc., here.
?To continue to function, we very definitely need to think forward with a plan to build a new facility," Ms. Gordon told The Produce News. She credited the market?s co-presidents, Matt D?Arrigo and Steve Katzman, for being "very forward thinking in understanding the market?s needs."
The market operators give very broad support to rebuilding the market because "at present, the cooperators have the inability to move forward and expand," she said. "They?re out of room." She added that with the support of the market, "a very small committee has worked on this. Matthew is an amazing driving force and has his father?s amazing vision." Mr. D?Arrigo?s father, the late Stephen D?Arrigo, was also for many years president of the Hunts Point Produce Association.
Ms. Gordon said that some Hunts Point companies now operate "on more than one platform. They can no longer continue to grow. They need 10 pairs of eyes? to see what?s happening in the scattered pieces of their business. This problem "in itself is enough to look for a new facility."
New plans will comply "with what will be at some point government standards for the cold chain," she stated. "We can?t do that with the way this facility was built."
Ms. Gordon noted that the current facilities were first conceived in the 1940s, and construction began in 1960. She said the plans for Hunts Point were totally unlike the standard operating procedures of Manhattan?s old Washington Street Market.
?The foresight in the 1940s was admirable, when you consider that then nothing was stored. Now product is stored 24-48 hours," she said. The 1940s were a time when the Washington market operated on cobblestone streets, but industry leaders planned for truck platforms. When the new market was built, trailers were 40 feet long. Now, with cabs, they?re 70 or 75 feet long. The streets here are 200 feet wide, which in 1967 (when the market opened) was more than adequate. "We may need 350 feet," she said. "Product in the old market was stacked between four walls, and modern coolers were planned for Hunts Point. Today the ceilings are not high enough here, but still, their foresight was admirable. These are 22-foot ceilings? in the present coolers "but we need 40 feet, so there is a real need to go forward and rack higher."
New produce facilities in the rebuilt produce market would keep product entirely within the cold chain, while currently only about half the space is refrigerated. Trailers are now parked for storage at the front and back of the market. But with new facilities, operators would have all their units in one place "vs. three locations plus the team tracks (used for storage) in the back of the market."
In laying out the market, "We want to accommodate the smaller merchants side by side with the larger ones as presently exists," she said. The current layout of the market has smaller houses serving niches adjacent to larger houses, "and we want duplication of locations so everyone has an opportunity to make a living."
Ms. Gordon said that a new market would have 40,000 pallet positions, "which would make the interior space three times what it is today with room to grow. There will be room to expand in one place, while today people are in two or three different areas of the market. It is an exciting process. Because we will have everyone on board, the key issue will be funding. I have dubbed it "The World Class Food Center." "
The location of the Hunts Point market is becoming increasingly popular with metropolitan retailers because Hunts Point, which is located in a mostly industrial part of the south Bronx, also features a wholesale meat market as well as a modern fish market, which is set to open this spring. The close proximity of these three food distribution sources is unusual in the world, Ms. Gordon said. Rungis, Paris? huge food distribution market, is similar in that respect, as is a food market in Seoul, South Korea.
?We?re not a clone of those markets, but buyers have the ability to purchase meat, produce and fish within a couple of miles of here," she said. "It gives us all an increased customer base. Purveyors can tell their customers, "I am going by the produce market. Can I pick up anything for you?? "
Ms. Gordon said in February that "business has been very flat? at the Hunts Point market. "Business can only grow if we move forward," she said. "We can?t go forward if we do not have the capability to take in new stock. We are literally maxed out right now."
If the market grows, it will increase the employee base, "which in any economy is a plus," she added. "If I have a wish list, it's that by this time next year, we will be well into financing and have the plans completed."
The Hunts Point Terminal Market is the Bronx?s second-largest employer, second only to the borough?s collective hospital system, which employs close to 30,000 people. "We as an industry directly or indirectly employ 10,000, and we?re a good community player," said Ms. Gordon, whose responsibilities include leading the market in community activities such as charitable work with local elementary schools.
The market "is very much our own community," she stated. "The outreach here is multifaceted. We are like a small town, with the presidents serving as though they were town supervisors. The market is run like a small community, and we deal with many of the same issues."
Ms. Gordon concluded by saying that many of the market businesses are employing third generations of ownership, and "Cochran and Katzman are in their fourth generation."
(A full report on Hunts Point appears in the April 4 issue of The Produce News.)
?To continue to function, we very definitely need to think forward with a plan to build a new facility," Ms. Gordon told The Produce News. She credited the market?s co-presidents, Matt D?Arrigo and Steve Katzman, for being "very forward thinking in understanding the market?s needs."
The market operators give very broad support to rebuilding the market because "at present, the cooperators have the inability to move forward and expand," she said. "They?re out of room." She added that with the support of the market, "a very small committee has worked on this. Matthew is an amazing driving force and has his father?s amazing vision." Mr. D?Arrigo?s father, the late Stephen D?Arrigo, was also for many years president of the Hunts Point Produce Association.
Ms. Gordon said that some Hunts Point companies now operate "on more than one platform. They can no longer continue to grow. They need 10 pairs of eyes? to see what?s happening in the scattered pieces of their business. This problem "in itself is enough to look for a new facility."
New plans will comply "with what will be at some point government standards for the cold chain," she stated. "We can?t do that with the way this facility was built."
Ms. Gordon noted that the current facilities were first conceived in the 1940s, and construction began in 1960. She said the plans for Hunts Point were totally unlike the standard operating procedures of Manhattan?s old Washington Street Market.
?The foresight in the 1940s was admirable, when you consider that then nothing was stored. Now product is stored 24-48 hours," she said. The 1940s were a time when the Washington market operated on cobblestone streets, but industry leaders planned for truck platforms. When the new market was built, trailers were 40 feet long. Now, with cabs, they?re 70 or 75 feet long. The streets here are 200 feet wide, which in 1967 (when the market opened) was more than adequate. "We may need 350 feet," she said. "Product in the old market was stacked between four walls, and modern coolers were planned for Hunts Point. Today the ceilings are not high enough here, but still, their foresight was admirable. These are 22-foot ceilings? in the present coolers "but we need 40 feet, so there is a real need to go forward and rack higher."
New produce facilities in the rebuilt produce market would keep product entirely within the cold chain, while currently only about half the space is refrigerated. Trailers are now parked for storage at the front and back of the market. But with new facilities, operators would have all their units in one place "vs. three locations plus the team tracks (used for storage) in the back of the market."
In laying out the market, "We want to accommodate the smaller merchants side by side with the larger ones as presently exists," she said. The current layout of the market has smaller houses serving niches adjacent to larger houses, "and we want duplication of locations so everyone has an opportunity to make a living."
Ms. Gordon said that a new market would have 40,000 pallet positions, "which would make the interior space three times what it is today with room to grow. There will be room to expand in one place, while today people are in two or three different areas of the market. It is an exciting process. Because we will have everyone on board, the key issue will be funding. I have dubbed it "The World Class Food Center." "
The location of the Hunts Point market is becoming increasingly popular with metropolitan retailers because Hunts Point, which is located in a mostly industrial part of the south Bronx, also features a wholesale meat market as well as a modern fish market, which is set to open this spring. The close proximity of these three food distribution sources is unusual in the world, Ms. Gordon said. Rungis, Paris? huge food distribution market, is similar in that respect, as is a food market in Seoul, South Korea.
?We?re not a clone of those markets, but buyers have the ability to purchase meat, produce and fish within a couple of miles of here," she said. "It gives us all an increased customer base. Purveyors can tell their customers, "I am going by the produce market. Can I pick up anything for you?? "
Ms. Gordon said in February that "business has been very flat? at the Hunts Point market. "Business can only grow if we move forward," she said. "We can?t go forward if we do not have the capability to take in new stock. We are literally maxed out right now."
If the market grows, it will increase the employee base, "which in any economy is a plus," she added. "If I have a wish list, it's that by this time next year, we will be well into financing and have the plans completed."
The Hunts Point Terminal Market is the Bronx?s second-largest employer, second only to the borough?s collective hospital system, which employs close to 30,000 people. "We as an industry directly or indirectly employ 10,000, and we?re a good community player," said Ms. Gordon, whose responsibilities include leading the market in community activities such as charitable work with local elementary schools.
The market "is very much our own community," she stated. "The outreach here is multifaceted. We are like a small town, with the presidents serving as though they were town supervisors. The market is run like a small community, and we deal with many of the same issues."
Ms. Gordon concluded by saying that many of the market businesses are employing third generations of ownership, and "Cochran and Katzman are in their fourth generation."
(A full report on Hunts Point appears in the April 4 issue of The Produce News.)
