South Bronx residents push back as warehouse giant Prologis eyes the old New York Post printing plant

Residents and environmental groups in the South Bronx are trying to stop what they fear will be yet another last-mile warehouse on their waterfront: the former New York Post printing plant at 900 E. 132nd St. in Port Morris, a site the logistics giant Prologis has been eyeing for years.

The group South Bronx Unite held a rally and press conference outside the vacant plant on Thursday, joined by Assembly Member Amanda Septimo, the Waterfront Alliance, the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, the Harlem River Coalition and other groups, according to the Bronx Times and The City Reporter. Passing trucks interrupted the speeches, The City Reporter noted.

What Prologis says

Prologis, whose tenants include Amazon, FedEx and Home Depot, says it has made no decision. A spokesperson told The City Reporter there is no "customer or final project plan at this time" and that the company is "evaluating the site, as we do other potential projects in the region." The company told the Bronx Times it is not under contract to buy the property.

Advocates came away from an Oct. 9 meeting with a different impression. Zoe Voss Lee, an urban planner consulting for South Bronx Unite, told The City Reporter the company "essentially confirmed" plans to build a warehouse and suggested it could be part of the city's Blue Highways program for moving freight by water. Prologis called those claims inaccurate and outdated and said the site has not been selected for Blue Highways.

The interest is not new. The Real Deal reported in 2022 that Prologis was in late-stage talks to buy the roughly 16-acre property. City and state records show the company has lobbied officials about the site since 2021, spending at least $15,000 on those contracts in the past year, The City Reporter found.

Who controls the land

Part of the site is owned by the state Department of Transportation. The Galesi Group has controlled it since 1991 under a 99-year lease, originally meant to expand freight rail, and a Galesi-controlled company owns the rest outright, according to The City Reporter. The Bronx Times said the lease runs through 2090. The Post printed there until 2021, when it moved its operations to Queens.

The City Reporter described the plant as nearly 400,000 square feet; the Bronx Times put it at 447,000.

What residents want instead

South Bronx Unite and the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards have spent about a decade on a plan to turn the site into a clean energy hub with solar panels, recreation space and a link to the Randall's Island connector, restoring waterfront access the neighborhood has long been cut off from, the Bronx Times reported. They are asking the state DOT not to approve any lease, sale or transfer without formal community input, and want city and state officials to fund a second feasibility study and require environmental reviews before any deal.

"No more trucks. No more last mile warehouse here," South Bronx Unite co-founder Mychal Johnson told the Bronx Times. Septimo said she supports a funded feasibility plan.

Mott Haven and Port Morris are known as "asthma alley" for some of the highest childhood asthma rates in the country, and advocates say diesel trucks serving warehouses make it worse. The group plans to tour the area with the state attorney general's Environmental Protection Bureau and to meet with the city Economic Development Corporation and the leaseholder about possibly buying the land, the Bronx Times reported.