Suit Filed to Stop FreshDirect Plan for a South Bronx Complex
The New York Times
By Colin Maynihan
When it was announced in February that the online grocery giant FreshDirect would move from Queens to a new 500,000-square-foot facility in the South Bronx, city and state officials hailed the deal as a victory that kept FreshDirect from decamping to New Jersey.
Some in the Bronx, however, questioned whether the arrangement, which includes more than $120 million in city tax exemptions, state tax credits and cash incentives, would be good for an area that is already burdened by noise, pollution and some of the highest asthma rates in the country.
On Wednesday, several individuals and community groups sued to halt the project, arguing that it would harm the quality of life in the South Bronx and that the city failed to comply with state regulations by approving the deal without an adequate environmental review.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, names several defendants, including the New York City Industrial Development Agency, FreshDirect and Harlem River Yard Ventures, which leases the land where the headquarters are planned from the state.
