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Philadelphia focuses on new site for produce market
United States
Sunday 13 January 2008
The general manager of the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market believes that the market could still move to a site adjacent to its current location, but it could take four years or more for Sysco to move its existing warehousing operation from that to another location.
With the rapid escalation of construction costs, the then-affordable new Philadelphia market size would not be as large as the existing facility, which was built by the city in 1959. For that reason, the next-door plan has been abandoned.
Sonny DiCrecchio, manager of the PRPM, confirmed the comments of market President Jimmy Storey in the Nov. 26 issue of The Produce News, saying that yet another site has become available at 6700 Essington Ave.
An eight-minute drive from the existing market in South Philadelphia, the Essington site was once a junkyard but has been cleaned up over the last two years. In two months, the site will be cleaned and ready for groundbreaking. The site was to be used for a new box store, but that deal fell through, opening the location to Philadelphia produce wholesalers.
A new market could be finished within 24 months after groundbreaking. Mr. DiCrecchio said that the state and city are cooperating with the latest of many changes of plans.
He said that political authorities are sympathetic about the many setbacks that have hit the Philadelphia market, with none of those disappointments being the fault of market operators.
Mr. DiCrecchio is to present construction costs for the new market to the state by Jan. 15.
Fifty acres are available on the existing site, and another 10 acres might be available for a larger market location.
"I am more confident we can get this together, for all the numbers, than at any other site. We have never been at a shovel-ready site" before now, he said.
He added that the traffic flow for the Essington Ave. location is good and that there are no other complications, such as the bald eagles that nested on the "definite" site two locations ago.
Mr. DiCrecchio said that the inflation cost for commercial construction is about 0.5 percent per month now. This is down from 1 percent per month in a period that began after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and continued after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
With the rapid escalation of construction costs, the then-affordable new Philadelphia market size would not be as large as the existing facility, which was built by the city in 1959. For that reason, the next-door plan has been abandoned.
Sonny DiCrecchio, manager of the PRPM, confirmed the comments of market President Jimmy Storey in the Nov. 26 issue of The Produce News, saying that yet another site has become available at 6700 Essington Ave.
An eight-minute drive from the existing market in South Philadelphia, the Essington site was once a junkyard but has been cleaned up over the last two years. In two months, the site will be cleaned and ready for groundbreaking. The site was to be used for a new box store, but that deal fell through, opening the location to Philadelphia produce wholesalers.
A new market could be finished within 24 months after groundbreaking. Mr. DiCrecchio said that the state and city are cooperating with the latest of many changes of plans.
He said that political authorities are sympathetic about the many setbacks that have hit the Philadelphia market, with none of those disappointments being the fault of market operators.
Mr. DiCrecchio is to present construction costs for the new market to the state by Jan. 15.
Fifty acres are available on the existing site, and another 10 acres might be available for a larger market location.
"I am more confident we can get this together, for all the numbers, than at any other site. We have never been at a shovel-ready site" before now, he said.
He added that the traffic flow for the Essington Ave. location is good and that there are no other complications, such as the bald eagles that nested on the "definite" site two locations ago.
Mr. DiCrecchio said that the inflation cost for commercial construction is about 0.5 percent per month now. This is down from 1 percent per month in a period that began after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and continued after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
