Bronx Terminal Market facts for kids
Bronx Terminal Market
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| Location | The Bronx, New York, United States |
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| Coordinates | 40°49′13″N 73°55′49″W / 40.82037°N 73.930264°W |
| Address | 610 Exterior Street |
| Opening date | May 1, 1935 (original); September 12, 2009 (current) |
| Developer | BTM Development Partners |
| Management | The Related Companies |
| Owner | The Related Companies |
| Architect | GreenbergFarrow Architect, Brennan Beer Gorman/Architects |
| No. of stores and services | 28 (21 open, 7 vaccant) |
| No. of anchor tenants | 10 (9 open, 1 vacant) |
| Total retail floor area | 913,000 square feet (84,800 m2) |
| No. of floors | 3 (North building), 4 (South building) |
| Parking | 6-story, 2,600 car parking garage |
The Bronx Terminal Market, once called Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market, is a large shopping mall in the Concourse area of Bronx, New York. It sits right next to the Major Deegan Expressway. This huge shopping center has almost one million square feet of stores. It was built on a 17-acre piece of land. This land used to be a big market for fruits and vegetables. It was also the site of the old Bronx House of Detention, which was a jail.
The shopping center cost about $500 million to build. It was finished in 2009. New buildings were constructed, along with two smaller ones. One of these smaller buildings was new, and the other was an old market building that was fixed up. The two main buildings are connected by a six-story parking garage. This garage can hold 2,600 cars. The design of the center has won a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver award. This award means it was built in an environmentally friendly way.
Contents
History of the Market
Early Days
The Bronx Terminal Market is located south of Yankee Stadium. It's right under the Major Deegan Expressway on a street called Exterior Street. Back in 1914, Cyrus C. Miller, who was the Bronx Borough President, suggested creating a special market in New York City.
Construction on the market began, but it wasn't finished until Fiorello La Guardia became mayor. He started a program to build different markets. These markets gave a place for the city's many pushcart vendors to sell their goods. Between October 1934 and May 1935, the city built a new complex. It was just south of the unfinished structure. The Bronx Terminal Market had small, two-story concrete buildings. They were designed by Samuel A. Oxhandler, John D. Churchill, and Albert W. Lewis. The buildings were first painted light yellow.
In 1936, the market's main building was built. It was a small, polygon-shaped building at 149th Street. It had "Bronx Terminal Market" written in large letters on the concrete. This building was meant to be a bank. Upstairs, it was a hotel for farmers. A special car float even brought train cars by barge to the market.
On December 21, 1935, Mayor La Guardia visited the market. He announced a citywide ban on selling and having artichokes. This ban was put in place to stop people from unfairly raising the price of artichokes. The ban was lifted within a year.
The market eventually became the biggest wholesale market in the country for Hispanic foods. However, the market slowly declined. By the late 1960s, it became a financial problem for the city. When the city started tearing down the market, the Bronx Terminal Market Merchants Association asked developer David Buntzman for help. Buntzman got a 99-year lease for the market in 1972. He operated it until 2004. In its best years, the market had almost 100 businesses and over 1,000 employees. After some legal disagreements with the city, Buntzman sold his share to Related Companies for $42.5 million in 2004.
The Market as a Mall
Near the market was the Bronx County Jail. It had 350 cells and was designed by Joseph Freedlander. It opened in 1937 as a Works Progress Administration project. Later, it was known as the Bronx House of Detention. It was famous for its detailed art deco designs. The jail closed in 2000. Later, The Related Companies bought it. They tore it down to build the new Bronx Terminal Market. Some of the old building's architectural details were saved.
On August 14, 2006, construction began on the new Bronx Terminal Market. At that time, it was called Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market. All the old buildings on the land were torn down. The only exception was the Prow Building. This 20,500 square foot building is at the corner of East 149th Street, Exterior Street, and River Avenue. The new center was approved after a special agreement was signed with the community.
The Home Depot was the first big store to open on April 23, 2009. The second big store, BJ's, opened on August 1. The rest of the mall opened on September 12. The first stores in the mall included several restaurants and a Chase bank. Many stores took up the third floor. Other large stores included Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, BJ's, Marshalls, Raymour & Flanigan, Toys "R" Us, and Target.
In September 2012, Staples announced it would close 30 stores in the United States. This included the Bronx Terminal Market location. It closed a year later.
A StubHub location opened at the Bronx Terminal Market in July 2013. This happened after a lawsuit prevented them from opening a location closer to Yankee Stadium.
Toys "R" Us closed in June 2018. This was part of the company closing all its stores.
In October 2018, it was announced that Food Bazaar would move into the old Toys "R" Us space. It was planned to open in Spring 2019. Instead, it opened in January 2020. It is now the largest supermarket in the Bronx.
In December 2019, a new museum called the Revolution of Hip Hop opened at the Bronx Terminal Market.
In January 2020, it was announced that Bed Bath & Beyond at the Bronx Terminal Market would close. It shut down at the end of March 2020.
Main Stores (Anchors)
"Anchor stores" are the biggest and most important stores in a shopping mall. They usually attract a lot of shoppers.
Current Main Stores
North Building
- Target (190,000 square feet)
- Burlington (74,329 square feet)
- The Home Depot (131,000 square feet)
South Building
Vacant space(40,000 square feet)- BJ's Wholesale Club (135,000 square feet)
- Food Bazaar (77,000 square feet)
- Raymour & Flanigan (50,000 square feet)
- Marshalls (40,000 square feet)
- Best Buy (55,000 square feet)
Former Main Stores
North Building
- Staples (16,000 square feet), closed in 2013. It was replaced by Dollar Discount in June 2015.
- Rainbow (74,329 square feet), closed and was replaced by Burlington in 2012.
South Building
- Bed Bath & Beyond (40,000 square feet), closed in March 2020.
- Toys "R" Us (77,000 square feet), closed in June 2018. It was replaced by Food Bazaar in January 2020.
How to Get There
The Bronx Terminal Market is easy to reach by public transportation. It is close to the New York City Subway's 149th Street–Grand Concourse station, which is served by the 2 4 5 trains trains. It's also near the 161st Street–Yankee Stadium station, served by the 4 B and D trains trains. The 145th Street station, served by the 3 train trains, is just across the Harlem River in Manhattan.
The market is also very close to the Metro-North Railroad's Yankees–East 153rd Street station, which is on the Hudson Line. Several city buses also stop nearby, including the Bx1, Bx2, Bx6, Bx6 SBS, Bx13, Bx19 routes. If you are driving, you can get to the center using exits 4, 5, and 6 on the Major Deegan Expressway.
Images for kids
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Former power house in nearby Mill Pond Park
