Residents in the South Bronx have spent the last decade developing a plan to reimagine the future of the waterfront and former New York Post printing plant. Their proposal envisions transforming the site into a clean energy hub featuring solar panels and recreational space that would access the Randall’s Island connector under South Bronx Unite and The Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards.
The plan also aims to restore residents’ access to a waterfront that has long been cut off from the community.
South Bronx Unite held a rally and press conference outside the 447,000-square feet former New York Post printing plant, alongside Assemblymember Amanda Septimo of the 84th District, the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, the Harlem River Coalition, the Waterfront Alliance, and other environmental justice groups across the Bronx, calling for Kathy Hochul and Department of Transportation to reject any discussed deal with Prologis to develop another last-mile warehouse.
Community-led activist groups urged DOT not to approve any lease, sale, or transfer of the land without formal community input and to approve South Bronx Unite’s second feasibility study and plan for the re-development of the site.
“We’re asking the state and the city to be supportive of this community’s need for no more trucks. No more last mile warehouse here. We’ve had elected officials writing letters to the state and to the governor, saying, no last-mile warehouse no another one in the South Bronx peninsula. We also want them to help fund our feasibility study,” said South Bronx Unite co-founder Mychal Johnson.
South Bronx Unite says they are asking city and state officials to commit to environmental impact statements and feasibility studies before deciding on who to sell the land.
The 99-year lease for the Harlem River Yards was entered into in 1991 between the State of New York and Harlem River Yard Ventures — a subsidiary of the Galesi Group — which means its term runs through 2090.
Prologis, the world’s largest warehouse developer whose biggest client is Amazon, expressed interest in purchasing the former New York Post building. Prologis already owns Fresh Direct and Fedex Distribution Center.
Prologis told the Bronx Times that the company is not under contract to purchase the site and said they had met with South Bronx Unite.
“What we gathered from that discussion was a screenshot of their plans, which looks like taking over this building and our waterfront. Had we not met with them, we’d have less information,” Johnson said. “What we told them was that we don’t need what you’re bringing.”
South Bronx Unite told the Bronx Times that they will be giving the Attorney General and The Environmental Protection Bureau a tour of the area. They will also meet with the New York City Economic Development Corporation and continue discussions with Harlem Yards Ventures about potential next steps toward purchasing the land.
Richie Torres wrote a letter back in November of 2021 to DOT to consider the public health and environmental concerns of the Harlem River Yards Center being leased to a last-mile warehouse.
Assembly Member Amanda Septimo of the 84th district says that she is committed to a funded feasibility plan and supports the South Bronx Unite Plan.
“For the state, or any other entity connected to this land to railroad that process would be disrespectful to every single person that calls the South Bronx home because we have a history of government that refuses to acknowledge that our humanity is connected to things like waterfront access, that our dignity in this neighborhood is connected to clean air, that living a dignified life in the Bronx entitles you to beautiful spaces, to access to opportunity, to the same things that so many New Yorkers enjoy on a daily basis without having to fight tooth and nail for it.”
Bronx community residents and advocates also spoke out against last-mile warehouses.
“The Bronx is so tired of getting the short end stick.” said Dalourny Nemorin, a Bronx resident who formerly ran to represent New York’s 15th Congressional District. “One out of six children have asthma, even though there’s a few of us standing here, it represents many. Many people who are working in survival mode, who do not accept what is happening, even though they cannot stand right here with us.”
Another local resident, Chauncy Young, a Bronx community advocate at Waterfront Alliance called the potential sublease of the New York Post former printing plant harmful. Young said the decision feels forced upon the South Bronx.
“No other waterfront in New York City endures this level of environmental overload. Our regional highway networks, our cities, waste management system, our wholesale food distribution, power generation and logistics infrastructure are all crammed into the South Bronx neighborhood,” Young said.
“The very neighborhood suffers from the highest rates of pediatric asthma and respiratory distress in the states.”
