Council members want answers on why the Hunts Point market overhaul died

The City Council will hold a hearing to find out how a $650 million agreement collapsed over the summer, Council Speaker Julie Menin said Thursday. The deal was meant to modernize the South Bronx’s Hunts Point Produce Market and clean up its pollution. A date has not been set.

“We’re having a hearing on it because we believe this project is mission critical,” Menin said. She wants the administration, the federal government and Hunts Point to work out a solution together.

Why the Hunts Point market deal fell apart

In his final days as mayor, Eric Adams announced plans for a new facility at the market. It would have ended the need for about 1,000 diesel-powered refrigerated trailers there. About two dozen companies operating at the market use those trailers, because the warehouses, which date to the 1960s, lack enough refrigeration.

The December 2025 plan said the redevelopment would improve air quality for nearly 13,000 Bronx residents who live on the Hunts Point Peninsula, per the NYC Mayor’s Office announcement. The plan was expected to generate 2,000 construction jobs, the NYC Mayor’s Office announcement said. It also included $130 million in city funding and $130 million in state funding through Empire State Development, according to the NYC Mayor’s Office announcement.

The market’s co-op of operators turned the agreement down, citing worries that the project could change how they do business. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has faulted Adams for pushing the plan through before those concerns were settled. About $370 million in federal grants and loans is now at risk.

What the Council hearing will examine

Council members are expected to use the hearing to scrutinize Mamdani’s economic development strategy. Almost seven months passed before the mayor named a leader for the Economic Development Corporation, the agency that partners with private companies to create jobs and deliver big projects such as Hunts Point. Virginia Maloney, chair of the Council’s economic development committee, will run the hearing. She said she wants to know how a project backed by every level of government ended up stalled.

Councilmember Justin Sanchez, who represents the area, called it “the most significant environmental justice investment in our city.” He said the project cannot be allowed to quietly disappear without accountability.

The diesel trailers have come to symbolize environmental injustice for the area. In the South Bronx, one child in five develops asthma. The city owns more than 100 acres under the market, and Hunts Point ranks as the nation’s biggest wholesale food hub.