A former USPS mail processing facility in Ferry Point has been purchased by a group of investors who may soon bring new jobs to the community.
The vacant warehouse at 815 Hutchinson River Parkway was a United States Postal Service Surface Transport Center where mail was put onto tractor-trailer trucks. It closed in September 2010.
According to sources close to the sale, the 7.9 acre parcel has been sold by USPS to a group that includes a holding company for Target, PA Associates, and Simone Development, which owns the Hutchinson Metro Center at 1200 Waters Place and property in Westchester Square. According to a blog, the therealdeal.com, the site was purchased for $35 million and 300,000 square feet of retail, including a Target, is in the works.
“I haven’t seen anything official yet, all I have heard are rumors,” said Community Board 10 district manager Kenneth Kearns. “They would have to come to the board if they want retail because the area is zoned for manufacturing and they would need a variance.”
The site, across from Monsignor Scanlon High School at the corner of the Hutchinson River Parkway service road and Lafayette Avenue, already has a 369,000 square foot warehouse, with the as-of-right to build a total of 687,000 square foot of building.
The First American Title Insurance Company, which is listed on a property transfer document as the purchaser along with Simone and PA, has the same address of the Target corporate headquarters in Minnesota, but Target would not comment on the matter.Target already operates retail stores at two other locations in the Bronx, near Riverdale and at the Gateway Mall at the Bronx Terminal Market. Target.
The development is welcomed, as it would bring needed jobs to the area, but some in the community are concerned about the increased traffic, said Dotti Poggi, of the Ferry Point Community Advocates.
The postal service sold the property as part of its consolidation efforts, a streamlining of systems and reduction in redundant mail transfer stations, USPS spokeswoman Darleen Reid said.The 100 or so employees at the former USPS facility have been transferred to a mail processing center in Jersey City, N.J. or have been assigned to postal stations, she said.
Before its postal service use, the property was a warehouse for the Franklin-Simon Department Stores.
