Philadelphia will keep produce market

Philadelphia will keep produce market The food fight is over.
   A long simmering dispute about relocating the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market has been resolved and a new terminal will be built by a public-private partnership, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and developer O’Neill Properties.
   The $218.5 million facility will be erected over the next 23 months at a 63-acre site on Essington Avenue in the city, land once occupied by scrap and junkyards. The relocation will retain 1,468 current jobs, create 375 new jobs, and enable the expansion of the mart.
   Last year, port businesses, labor leaders and legislators rallied and successfully squashed an earlier proposal to relocate the food distribution center along the waterfront in the midst of a planned new container terminal. That angered people in the produce business that said they might try to relocate the market outside of the city, perhaps across the Delaware River in New Jersey.
   Thursday, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell said, “The deal will preserve the produce market right where it belongs — in Philadelphia. Without room for expansion and new, modern facilities, the commonwealth risked losing this vital operation, and the vendors faced that sad reality that they would be forced to break up a South Philadelphia landmark.”
   The state is releasing $152.5 million to the port authority to support the project. The authority will purchase the site and build a 667,000-square-foot distribution facility, and will sign a 40-year lease enabling the relocation. Market vendors will repay all of the grants and loans over the life of the lease.
   Developers say the new market is nearly twice the size of the current facility and will be the first of its kind in the United States with a fully refrigerated facility that will “prevent the cold chain from breaking from truck transport to loading docks to cold storage at the distribution center.”
   It will have 228 enclosed and fully refrigerated 50-foot wide dock areas, 40-foot ceiling heights, a skylight running the length and width of the building to provide natural lighting, a central walking concourse open to the public, second floor office space with secure access, 10 entrances to the building and one main entrance for the public. The project also includes an 18,000-square-foot auxiliary building for recycling pallets and food.
   First phase of the site work will begin in September.