Flood-proofing and other building-hardening solutions will protect essential facilities in one of the world’s largest food distribution centers, located in Hunts Point, New York.
New York, New York: $14.68 Million
This is a Justice40 project.
History
The Hunts Point neighborhood, located in the Bronx, New York, is home to thriving residential and industrial communities, with over 12,000 residents, 18,000 workers, and the Food Distribution Center (FDC) – one of the largest food distribution centers in the world, which contains 355 Food Center Drive (also known as the Meat Market) and 600 Food Center Drive. The FDC is a critical city lifeline that dispenses 4.5 billion pounds of food annually to the New York metropolitan region, supports 8,500 jobs, and provides 35% of New York City’s meat, 45% of the City’s fish, and 25% of the City’s produce annually.
Hurricane Sandy highlighted the vulnerabilities of New York’s waterfront neighborhoods to the growing impacts of climate change. Hunts Point located in Bronx, New York is no exception.
Project Description
A waterfront community situated along the Bronx and East rivers, Hunts Point faces vulnerabilities from the growing impacts of climate change. In the low-lying industrial areas – where the FDC is located – facilities critical to the food supply of the city and region are vulnerable to coastal storm flooding. While some buildings are elevated with first floors out of the floodplain, flood risk remains high for both buildings within the FDC as well as underground infrastructure and electrical equipment.
To address these risks, an innovative and comprehensive resiliency plan for the FDC calls for a plan that hardens and protects key facilities when the water comes in. The project will implement dry-floodproofing measures to protect at-risk facilities in the FDC campus against flooding. The NYCHA will work closely with the tenants and the community during the design process, and will ensure close coordination to develop protocols for erecting the deployables prior to a storm event. Local elected officials have expressed their support for this project and an eagerness to act as partners throughout. This project improves resiliency by providing 100-year level flood protection to the FDC, ensuring continuity of the city’s and region’s food supply during a storm event in today’s conditions and in the future.