The lease negotiations between the City of New York and the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market have again been extended.

A story by Lisa Fickenscher published on Sept. 26 in Crain's New York Business.com, stated that the on-again, off-again exclusive lease negotiations between the city and the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market have been extended for the third time.

The story stated that the market, a co-op of 115 merchants, and the city's Economic Development Corp. agreed Monday to keep talks between themselves through Oct. 31, keeping New Jersey officials at bay.

The impetus for the agreement, according to Matthew D'Arrigo, president of the merchant co-op, was the public hearing the merchants requested of city council members to discuss the city's Business Integrity Commission, which has regulatory authority over the market. The hearing is scheduled to take place on Oct. 23.

Extending the exclusivity agreement, "seemed like the right thing to do in light of our council hearings," Mr. D'Arrigo is quoted as saying in the story.

In June, the federal government offered $10 million to help modernize the market, which was opened in 1967. Many of the companies that originally took space at the market were generational businesses that looked forward to, what was at the time, one of the most cutting-edge facilities in the world. Many of the original companies still operate on the market today.

Hunts Point is the largest produce market in the world, but it faces numerous challenges that have intensified over the decades. The buildings are sorely in need of renovation. A shortage of cold storage has many companies storing fresh produce in trailers parked in front and/or in back of their units, and the loading docks are not refrigerated. Some complain that trucker access into and out of the market is poor and that roads are in disrepair or just cannot handle the thousands of loads that move in and out of the terminal weekly.

Everyone agrees on one thing: something has to be done. Numerous negotiations, talks, meetings, task forces and committees have tried taking the topic and a decision to task over the years, but a final and definite conclusion on exactly what to do has yet to be reached. Politics and governments are strongly involved in the decision-making process, and they tend to move slowly.

New Jersey has made an aggressive attempt in a bid to move the market to its state and has identified sites it claims can accommodate the largest produce terminal market in the world. But the cooperative continues negotiating with New York City on rebuilding the facility at its current location.

The lease extensions prevent the market cooperative from negotiating with New Jersey.

The current 10-year lease on the market expired in May 2011, and on June 19, 2012, the federal government offered $10 million to help modernize the large market, but first the market's merchants and the city must agree to a new lease.

The Crain's story noted that the merchants and the Business Integrity Commission have been at odds for years. The merchants contend that the agency is assessing needless fees and penalties for various infractions, including parking violations within the market. The situation reached an impasse in late August when the merchants decided not to renew their exclusivity agreement to negotiate a new lease with the city, citing their differences with the commission as the reason.