Seven-year curse appears to be over for Philadelphia market
Seven-year curse appears to be over for Philadelphia market
PHILADELPHIA -- After seven years of ups and downs with regard to the prospect of building a new wholesale produce market here, it appears that a viable site has been procured and that groundbreaking will occur as early as this summer.
Sonny DiCrecchio, general manager of the market, met with The Produce News April 2 for an exclusive interview to detail the plans for the new market. He indicated that Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell would announce in mid- April the final agreement to build a new produce market here, which will have 68 houses operated by 35 businesses, and which will be completed by the spring of 2010 at a cost of $212.5 million.
Mr. DiCrecchio first unveiled the plans for the market, here, March 29 during the annual meeting of the North American Produce Market Managers.
"I feel great about this," Mr. DiCrecchio said April 2. "I'm trying to keep 35 different owners happy with the design." Those owners serve customers ranging in size from smaller restaurants to larger food chains. "There are so many factors that making everyone happy is impossible. But no one will be extremely unhappy. No one will be inconvenienced by the design."
He planned to share the plans with his stockholders on April 8.
Mr. DiCrecchio signed this letter of intent for the new market on Feb. 18 -- seven years to the day after he signed the first such letter for a new market. In the ensuing seven years, the Philadelphia market has become a political football, being punted to at least three different sites before landing at what appears to be its final location at 6700 Essington Ave, an eight-minute drive from the existing market in south Philadelphia. The Essington site was once a junkyard, but it has been cleaned up over the last two years.
The Philadelphia market will have a groundbreaking ceremony this summer, Mr. DiCrecchio said. Although every site has required revised plans to fit the prospective market requirements, he said that all this experience has educated him on how long it will take to build a new market. He has a high degree of confidence that this work will be completed by the spring of 2010.
There are 50 acres available on the Essington site, and another 15 acres will be used as necessary for parking overflow.
The new market, which will be 1,300 feet long by 425 feet wide and contain 228 sealed truck bays, will be under one roof with an enclosed 40-foot wide loading dock apron surrounding it. Each unit will measure 31-by-140 feet, and current Philadelphia market distributors have a choice of having one, two, three or four bays at the market. Multiple-bay units will not have walls separating the stores.
To suit operator interest in perhaps selling a single unit, however, Mr. DiCrecchio said that the units are designed so a separating wall can easily be built to transfer a unit to another business. The refrigerated warehousing will be customized to the wishes of each wholesaler moving into the market. Walls within the warehouse space can segment the space to have rooms with different temperatures, and the warehouses will have three-high pallet racks.
Within the "box" of the market building will be eight clusters of warehousing and produce sales areas. Down the length of the new market will be a central concourse for buyers to walk. Running the length of the apex of the market's roof will be a skylight to enhance the quality of life on the market with some natural light, Mr. DiCrecchio said, but most of the light within the market will come from artificial sources.
Counting the central concourse, the long loading dock areas and walkways between different sections of the market, there will be about 200,000 square feet of general space that will be held at 50 degrees F. "You'll need to wear a jacket" inside the market, Mr. DiCrecchio said.
Produce company offices will be on the market's second floor. Unlike the plan for the new market when it was to be built at Philadelphia's old Navy Yard, the market administration office will be within the market, Mr. DiCrecchio said, adding that any other arrangement would make it very hard to manage the market.
There will be a trash and recycling building, which will also be used to store snow-removal equipment, at a back corner of the market. The real estate layout allows a very good pattern for truck flow through the market. No trucks will back into their dock space on the driver's blind side of the truck. The sealed truck bays are made of a special design that does not allow the truck doors to be opened until a seal is made against the market doors. This is a great advantage for preserving the cold chain. The market's trailer doors have an electronic micro-switch that will not allow the doors to open unless a trailer is pressing against the sealed doors, which is important for reducing energy expenditures within the warehouse.
Unlike the current market, which was finished in 1959, the market businesses will no longer have individual bathrooms. Mr. DiCrecchio said that so many facilities would consume enormous amounts of valuable market space and would cost many millions in additional construction costs. Requirements for handicapped access to bathrooms, which was not a consideration in 1959, play an important part in modern building costs.
The new market will have customer sheds running almost the length of both sides of the market. These sheds will break the cold chain, but Mr. DiCrecchio said that the small-volume customers who will use those sheds sell what they have so quickly that preserving the cold chain is not an issue. The customer sheds will have an eight-inch-high curb and a roof to protect customers from the elements as they load their vans or cars.
The market is designed to be "customer friendly," Mr. DiCrecchio said. Customers walking down the central concourse will be able to see the display area of every business. Customers will walk behind strong safety rails to protect them from forklift traffic. Forklifts traveling within the market will follow very specific traffic patterns as a safety issue.
There will be a U.S. Department of Agriculture office in the new warehouse, and in the middle of the new market will be a restaurant, Norm & Lou's, which has operated on the current market for many decades.
The new market will have a centralized refrigeration system. While this is more expensive initially, he said that subsequent energy savings will more than compensate for the difference in construction costs. A central cooling system is three times as efficient as individual cooling systems, he said.
There will not be rail access within the new market, although there will be rail access 200 yards away. Once the market construction has safely begun, Mr. DiCrecchio said he would focus on building a refrigerated warehouse for the market alongside the rail tracks.
There will be 130 security cameras in the new market, and each unit will be wired with fiber optic cables for use by operators choosing to install their own cameras.
Mr. DiCrecchio said that the new market is designed to plan on where snow will be dumped when the market is cleared. Those spots will be atop drains to keep melted snow from creating a hazard by refreezing.
Sonny DiCrecchio, general manager of the market, met with The Produce News April 2 for an exclusive interview to detail the plans for the new market. He indicated that Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell would announce in mid- April the final agreement to build a new produce market here, which will have 68 houses operated by 35 businesses, and which will be completed by the spring of 2010 at a cost of $212.5 million.
Mr. DiCrecchio first unveiled the plans for the market, here, March 29 during the annual meeting of the North American Produce Market Managers.
"I feel great about this," Mr. DiCrecchio said April 2. "I'm trying to keep 35 different owners happy with the design." Those owners serve customers ranging in size from smaller restaurants to larger food chains. "There are so many factors that making everyone happy is impossible. But no one will be extremely unhappy. No one will be inconvenienced by the design."
He planned to share the plans with his stockholders on April 8.
Mr. DiCrecchio signed this letter of intent for the new market on Feb. 18 -- seven years to the day after he signed the first such letter for a new market. In the ensuing seven years, the Philadelphia market has become a political football, being punted to at least three different sites before landing at what appears to be its final location at 6700 Essington Ave, an eight-minute drive from the existing market in south Philadelphia. The Essington site was once a junkyard, but it has been cleaned up over the last two years.
The Philadelphia market will have a groundbreaking ceremony this summer, Mr. DiCrecchio said. Although every site has required revised plans to fit the prospective market requirements, he said that all this experience has educated him on how long it will take to build a new market. He has a high degree of confidence that this work will be completed by the spring of 2010.
There are 50 acres available on the Essington site, and another 15 acres will be used as necessary for parking overflow.
The new market, which will be 1,300 feet long by 425 feet wide and contain 228 sealed truck bays, will be under one roof with an enclosed 40-foot wide loading dock apron surrounding it. Each unit will measure 31-by-140 feet, and current Philadelphia market distributors have a choice of having one, two, three or four bays at the market. Multiple-bay units will not have walls separating the stores.
To suit operator interest in perhaps selling a single unit, however, Mr. DiCrecchio said that the units are designed so a separating wall can easily be built to transfer a unit to another business. The refrigerated warehousing will be customized to the wishes of each wholesaler moving into the market. Walls within the warehouse space can segment the space to have rooms with different temperatures, and the warehouses will have three-high pallet racks.
Within the "box" of the market building will be eight clusters of warehousing and produce sales areas. Down the length of the new market will be a central concourse for buyers to walk. Running the length of the apex of the market's roof will be a skylight to enhance the quality of life on the market with some natural light, Mr. DiCrecchio said, but most of the light within the market will come from artificial sources.
Counting the central concourse, the long loading dock areas and walkways between different sections of the market, there will be about 200,000 square feet of general space that will be held at 50 degrees F. "You'll need to wear a jacket" inside the market, Mr. DiCrecchio said.
Produce company offices will be on the market's second floor. Unlike the plan for the new market when it was to be built at Philadelphia's old Navy Yard, the market administration office will be within the market, Mr. DiCrecchio said, adding that any other arrangement would make it very hard to manage the market.
There will be a trash and recycling building, which will also be used to store snow-removal equipment, at a back corner of the market. The real estate layout allows a very good pattern for truck flow through the market. No trucks will back into their dock space on the driver's blind side of the truck. The sealed truck bays are made of a special design that does not allow the truck doors to be opened until a seal is made against the market doors. This is a great advantage for preserving the cold chain. The market's trailer doors have an electronic micro-switch that will not allow the doors to open unless a trailer is pressing against the sealed doors, which is important for reducing energy expenditures within the warehouse.
Unlike the current market, which was finished in 1959, the market businesses will no longer have individual bathrooms. Mr. DiCrecchio said that so many facilities would consume enormous amounts of valuable market space and would cost many millions in additional construction costs. Requirements for handicapped access to bathrooms, which was not a consideration in 1959, play an important part in modern building costs.
The new market will have customer sheds running almost the length of both sides of the market. These sheds will break the cold chain, but Mr. DiCrecchio said that the small-volume customers who will use those sheds sell what they have so quickly that preserving the cold chain is not an issue. The customer sheds will have an eight-inch-high curb and a roof to protect customers from the elements as they load their vans or cars.
The market is designed to be "customer friendly," Mr. DiCrecchio said. Customers walking down the central concourse will be able to see the display area of every business. Customers will walk behind strong safety rails to protect them from forklift traffic. Forklifts traveling within the market will follow very specific traffic patterns as a safety issue.
There will be a U.S. Department of Agriculture office in the new warehouse, and in the middle of the new market will be a restaurant, Norm & Lou's, which has operated on the current market for many decades.
The new market will have a centralized refrigeration system. While this is more expensive initially, he said that subsequent energy savings will more than compensate for the difference in construction costs. A central cooling system is three times as efficient as individual cooling systems, he said.
There will not be rail access within the new market, although there will be rail access 200 yards away. Once the market construction has safely begun, Mr. DiCrecchio said he would focus on building a refrigerated warehouse for the market alongside the rail tracks.
There will be 130 security cameras in the new market, and each unit will be wired with fiber optic cables for use by operators choosing to install their own cameras.
Mr. DiCrecchio said that the new market is designed to plan on where snow will be dumped when the market is cleared. Those spots will be atop drains to keep melted snow from creating a hazard by refreezing.
