Gansevoort Market meatpackers agree to pack up facilities before 2032 lease expires

The remaining beef businesses in the Meatpacking District will soon be packing their things.

The last seven meatpackers in the Gansevoort Market Co-Op, scattered around the district’s 66,000-square-foot piece of city-owned land east of Tenth Avenue, will relocate before their 2032 lease expires as part of an agreement with the Economic Development Corp., the New York Post reported.

In a “new vision” for the space, to be called Gansevoort Square, Mayor Eric Adams plans to build 600 mixed-income apartments, half of which will be affordable for lower income residents, as well as space for new artistic and cultural centers.

First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres Springer announced the proposal on Monday morning at a gathering for the Association for a Better New York.

“In one area, we are delivering on much-needed affordable housing, creating more public space, and offering opportunities for two cultural icons to expand,” Torres Springer said. “This endeavor requires strong partnership amongst many stakeholders and is a multi-agency collaboration that shows the government’s capacity to reinvent.”

Meat merchants that once dominated the district have dwindled in recent years as the area attracted luxury hotels, retailers, and restaurants, transforming itself into a popular cultural destination. Economic Development Corp. president Andrew Kimball hopes to expand the neighborhood’s reputation further following the meat market’s withdrawal, which he referred to as a “mutual decision.”

Gansevoort Market Co-Op president John Jobbagy, acknowledging that technological advancements have made many of the market’s once omnipresent meat processing facilities obsolete, echoed Kimball’s assertion, telling the outlet, “this opportunity [to leave] has come along at the right time.”

It is unclear what the city’s next steps are, as the meat purveyors are not obligated to relocate until a project for the site is locked in. While the city wants to prioritize housing construction, an insider indicated that the Whitney Museum retains “right of first offer” over the entire site.

Both Whitney director Scott Rothkopf and Friends of the High Line executive director Alan van Capelle confirmed to the Post that talks have begun around a possible collaboration between the two groups and the city to expand the High Line, which sees over seven million visitors a year.

— Caroline Handel