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Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that The Peninsula in Hunts Point will be the second site selected for New York City’s new municipal grocery store program, making it the first in the Bronx. The 20,000-square-foot store is expected to open in 2027 as part of the city’s effort to make groceries more affordable for New Yorkers.
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The grocery store will be located within The Peninsula, the massive redevelopment of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in Hunts Point. The mixed-use project will ultimately include 740 units of affordable housing, public open space, community facilities, industrial space and retail uses.
City officials say the municipal grocery store model is designed to lower food costs by using city-owned property to reduce overhead expenses that are typically passed on to shoppers. The administration plans to contract private operators to run the stores while maintaining city affordability standards. Mayor Mamdani has pledged to open one public grocery store in each borough before the end of his first term and has allocated $70 million in capital funding for the initiative.
At the press conference, Mayor Mamdani also announced the launch of the N.Y.C. Groceries Sites Portal, a website where property owners with eligible locations can submit them for consideration for future use.
The announcement follows the selection of La Marqueta in East Harlem as the program’s first announced location. Officials say Hunts Point was chosen in part because of the neighborhood’s high rates of food insecurity despite being home to one of the world’s largest food distribution centers.
“Working families in the Bronx have been forced to pay the price for a city that keeps getting more expensive while government looks the other way. That has to change. Our administration is putting communities like Hunts Point at the center of our work to address the affordability crisis,” said Mayor Mamdani at the press conference. “Making sure every New Yorker can buy fresh, affordable groceries in their own neighborhood is a key part of our affordability agenda. We are proud to begin this work in the South Bronx and remain committed to opening a store in every borough before the end of our first term.”
If all goes according to plan, Bronx residents could be shopping at New York City’s first operational public grocery store in just a year.