Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and FreshDirect CEO Jason Ackerman issued the following statement today upon learning that the motion to renew a previously dismissed lawsuit designed to stop FreshDirect’s relocation to The Bronx has been denied by the courts.
The complete ruling can be found here: https://bronxboropres.nyc.gov/pdf/2014-06-25.pdf.
“This ruling clears the way for a transformative development project, and the thousands of jobs that will come with it, to make its way to The Bronx. FreshDirect, as well as the various agencies that helped to shepherd this important deal, have been vindicated at every turn by the courts, and this ruling is no exception,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
FreshDirect CEO Jason Ackerman said: “We are of course pleased with this decision, and look forward to servicing our customers from our new state of the art facility in The Bronx. We are working hard to make that a reality. With that new facility, we will bring more than a 1,000 new jobs to the Bronx, many to be filled by local residents.”
Borough President Diaz added, “This key economic development project is crucial to the future of this borough, and my office has not wavered in our support of FreshDirect and their relocation to The Bronx for that reason. The economic health and vitality of this borough is of preeminent importance to my administration, and I am satisfied that the legal efforts to derail this project have been given a fair hearing and have been dismissed.”
FreshDirect’s relocation to The Bronx will create 1,000 new jobs while also relocating 2,000 jobs to The Bronx from Queens. Already, FreshDirect has displayed their commitment to the Bronx through hiring initiatives that have led to Bronx residents getting jobs at their existing Queens facility, the impending greening of their delivery fleet, the expansion of their services to the entire borough, food donations to Bronx families during the holiday season and their efforts to expand their services to EBT users.