FreshDirect's decision to move to the Bronx or to New Jersey, which are aggressively wooing the online grocer, may be influenced by old fashioned rail lines that will help it to expand to such cities as Chicago and Boston. The Harlem River Yards in the Bronx offers exactly that opportunity.
“FreshDirect is looking into rail,” as a means for its expansion, said Anthony Riccio, senior vice president of Harlem River Yard Ventures, which has a long term lease on 104 acres of state-owned land, 12.6 acres of which is being offered to the grocer. Harlem River Yards in the Port Morris section of the Bronx is the largest facility served by CSX rail south of Albany.
New York City and state officials are dangling a package of cash and tax benefits reportedly worth $112 million to keep FreshDirect in New York City. The grocer is growing so quickly that it will bust out of its Long Island City, Queens, headquarters within the next several years.
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