Two New Food Markets Coming to South Street Seaport

Yesterday, Speaker Christine Quinn and Council Member Margaret Chin announced a deal with the Howard Hughes Corporation to establish two new food markets in the South Street Seaport area. The first will be a seven-day-a-week market offering "locally and regionally sourced food items." Its exact location has not been announced yet. The deal also includes plans for a food market in the Tin Building, which was once a part of the Fulton Fish Market. According to an agreement struck between the city and the developers, any project in this building must feature "at least 10,000 square feet of floor space that includes locally and regionally sourced food items."

In a statement, Christine Quinn notes:

[The] agreement will bring a year round, seven days a week food market back to one of the oldest neighborhoods in the country, where the food trade helped build New York City into a thriving port town...New York City will no longer be one of the only major cities in the country without a destination food market, but instead will soon be home to tens of thousands of square feet of indoor space specifically for local and regional sourced food.

For years, Robert LaValva and the team from the New Amsterdam Market have been rallying to get support for a permanent, year-round food market in the Fulton Fish Market buildings. LaValva tells Crain's: "We want at least 50,000 square feet of space, so the 10,000 square feet is not the same visionary thing we had been working on. It's no longer a scenario we are pursuing."

As a part of the agreement, the vendors at Pier 17 will get to stay open through the summer. After that, they will be forced to close so that the developers can work on the space.
· All Coverage of Pier 17 on Curbed [Curbed NY]
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