Prologis, a global real estate investment and logistics company that develops and operates warehouses and distribution facilities, is evaluating a potential project at the former New York Post printing plant on the Port Morris waterfront, concerning neighborhood advocates who had been exploring community stewardship of the site.
South Bronx Unite had been exploring community uses for the long-vacant warehouse for more than a year. In August, they began hosting public engagement sessions to gather ideas for the site, including solar panels, green jobs and workforce development, with the goal of bringing the site under the stewardship of the Mott Haven-Port Morris community land trust.
But Prologis’ interest in the site has raised fears for the environmental justice organization, whose birth grew out of organizing against FreshDirect’s relocation to the South Bronx waterfront and the environmental pollution from truck traffic that would worsen air quality in “Asthma Alley.”
“It’s the public benefit of the land that they’re trying to build their facility on,” said South Bronx Unite co-founder Mychal Johnson. “Harlem River Yards [Ventures] is not providing that benefit. They only have the cash cow of making more money on the backs of our injustice and our inequity that’s been existing for way too long.”
The Real Deal reported in 2022 that Prologis was in “late-stage talks” to acquire the former News Corp., printing plant in a deal valued at around $600 million. Prologis told the Bronx Times that the company was not under contract to purchase the site, but had met with South Bronx Unite as a part of their public engagement as they assess the site.
“Community engagement is a regular part of how we develop projects and we have been engaging with the South Bronx community as we evaluate this potential project,” Prologis spokesperson Mattie Sorrentino said in a statement.
Amazon is one of Prologis’ major clients, leasing more than 50 million square feet of warehouse space from the company.
However, South Bronx Unite is concerned that Amazon could become the warehouse’s tenant. The e-commerce giant already operates out of a Prologis facility in Soundview, although the organization said there is no prospective tenant since they have not purchased the site.
“Because it is so early in the process, there is no customer,” Sorrentino said.
City lobbying records show that Prologis has lobbied city officials on matters related to the former printing plant and about city regulation of last-mile facilities. The company has also lobbied against legislation concerning last-mile warehouse licensing. Amazon has also lobbied city officials against last-mile warehouse regulations.
According to South Bronx Unite, Prologis also pitched the site as a potential part of the city’s Blue Highways program, a joint initiative by the Department of Transportation and the New York City Economic Development Corporation to reduce truck congestion by moving freight through the city’s waterways.
The NYCEDC listed the 132nd Street Pier as an “opportunity site” in 2025 for potential activation within the next five years. The agency is also studying potential tax incentives to encourage private companies to invest in maritime supply chains.
South Bronx Unite questioned whether the site has enough space to accommodate the operations needed to support a maritime freight hub and have raised serious concerns that their ownership would impede on their vision for public waterfront access. Prologis said that they extensively studied the feasibility of maritime freight movement, including at the former plant site and plans to do a truck traffic study in the surrounding area if the project proceeds.
“The community has no access to its peninsula and to bring in more truck traffic under the cloak of the supposed Blue Highway” is worrisome, Johnson said.
For South Bronx Unite, the prospect of another warehouse raises wider concerns about the neighborhood’s existing pollution burden.
Highways that wrap around the South Bronx heavily contribute diesel emissions, while industrial operations and truck traffic serving the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center add to the number of heavy-duty vehicles moving through the area. The neighborhood has long faced elevated asthma rates, with fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, among the pollutants linked to the diagnoses.
“This community has no access right now to its peninsula, and to bring in more truck traffic under the cloak of supposed blue highways, where you only bring in someone potentially who’s your largest tenant globally, Amazon, which for us it can, and made us now push for and start organizing,” Johnson said.
The building sits partly on land owned by Harlem River Yard Ventures, a subsidiary of the Galesi Group, which holds a 99-year lease on state-owned land within Harlem River Yards. Another portion of the building, along with the entire parking lot, sits on land owned by the New York State DOT.
Galesi controls much of the Harlem River Yards waterfront, where industrial tenants include FreshDirect, FedEx and a waste transfer facility. The organization is urging state and city officials to extensively review potential buyers and the site’s land use, pointing to the property’s public-land status and potential restrictions governing its use.
“There’s a long history of deals taking place on this waterfront and closing at a point where it’s too late for the community to have a say or to even know what’s taking place,” said South Bronx Unite member Zoe Voss Lee.
“That’s also you know a big part of our goal and our approach is to make this information public [and] ensure that this doesn’t happen.” Lee said.
Reach Marina Samuel at msamuel@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
