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Supply - June 14, 2007
Fulton Fish Market finally moving to new home in Bronx
America’s oldest and largest wholesale fish market is saying goodbye at last to the crowded confines of lower Manhattan and hello to a new, roomy location in the Bronx. New York’s famed Fulton Fish Market is moving this spring from its 410,000-square-foot South Street site, its home for 170 years, to an $85 million, 450,000-square-foot facility at the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center. The market’s 43 vendors and about 600 employees will have 60 days to relocate once the new facility opens; the date hasn’t yet been announced, says George Maroulis, manager of the new location. At press time in mid-February, vendors were working with Maroulis to customize their spaces. The opening was initially scheduled for mid-January. But various city agencies took longer than expected to grant the permits needed to occupy the new building, delaying the move to at least the end of February, says Janel Patterson, spokeswoman for the city Economic Development Corp. Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani broke ground at the new site on Nov. 26, 2001, 10 weeks after terrorists destroyed the nearby World Trade Center, forcing vendors to relocate temporarily to Hunts Point. They were allowed to return to South Street about a month later. This time around, the vendors are eager to move. “We’re anxious,” says David Samuels, owner of Blue Ribbon Fish Co. “Will I miss the place? Not really. I have little nostalgia for the actual facility.” “I’ll take my old pictures with me, but that’s about it,” says Bob Smith, owner of Arrow Seafoods. “I can’t imagine I’ll miss the place.” The move from the current open-air market to a fully enclosed, temperature-controlled facility will improve the quality of product, say vendors. The extra space will allow them to operate more efficiently, minimize forklift backups and handle more product, they say. The EDC says unloading time will be halved, to two-and-a-half hours. Additionally, vendors will be able to extend their business hours, which are restricted in lower Manhattan because public streets are used to sell and transport product. What’s more, the Bronx offers better highway access; the new location is only “a stone’s throw” from Interstate 95, the East Coast’s north-south corridor, says Maroulis. “Some [buyers] think it’s great. Some think the traffic will be difficult [getting in and out of the Bronx]. It’ll work itself out,” says Samuels. “But most are excited that [other Hunts Point wholesale food markets] will be practically across the street.” “It’s the end of an era,” says Maroulis, “and the start of a new one.” — Steven Hedlund March 2005 BACK TO TOP Newport International grows Supplier expands product line, hires new president Florida seafood supplier Newport International is in growth mode, with a bigger facility, an expanded product line and several new employees, including the former CEO of a local competitor (see People, page 160). The company planned to move its offices from Tierra Verde, Fla., to an 8,000-square-foot building in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., at the end of February. The new site is almost triple the current space, allowing for development of several new products, including a line of organic redfish and tilapia, both farmed in China, and a breaded blue-swimming crab. The move coincides with hiring Andy Walton as president. Walton previously was COO and vice president of Sigma International of St. Petersburg. “We’ve been friends for many years, and he and I put a deal together to merge our companies years ago, and the owners didn’t go along with it,” says Jack McGeough, Newport’s chairman and CEO. “We tried again recently and it fell through. We’ve been competitors for years, but we remained friends.” The company’s fresh and frozen tilapia is being produced at a new processing facility in China and is now the largest part of Newport’s business, says McGeough. The company also sources products from Ecuador, Venezuela, Thailand, Vietnam and Canada and has plans to add a facility in Indonesia. The company will exhibit at the International Boston Seafood Show for the first time in six years, featuring its line of mahimahi, tilapia, grouper, snapper, crab, lobster and shrimp. The company also will unveil a crab gazpacho shooter recipe for its jumbo lump crabmeat. — Fiona Robinson
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