Planned Site for Microhub Delivery Center Raises Concerns

Community Board 1 (CB1) is asking the City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) to rethink a plan to create a “microhub” – an open-air delivery logistics center where trucks offload cargo to couriers pushing carts or riding bikes – on South Street.

In a December 23 letter, DOT’s Manhattan Borough Commissioner, Danielle Zuckerman, notified CB1 that the agency plans to create a 60-foot long microhub on South Street between Fulton and John Streets, to be used exclusively by Amazon, DOT’s partner company for the site.

Local stakeholders were quick to push back on this plan. Leaders of the Fulton Stall Market, a non-profit indoor/outdoor farmers market that has offered locally grown fresh food in the South Street Seaport since 2015, and is headquartered on the same stretch of sidewalk, noted in a letter to DOT that “a portion of the 60-foot-long Amazon package distribution operation proposed for the curbside lane along South St. between Fulton and John Streets, appears to be located directly in front of Fulton Stall Market’s historic (1811) building, immediately adjoining the architecturally significant Schermerhorn Row and Old Hotel buildings occupied by the South Street Seaport Museum.”

Market leadership added, “during the local growing season from April through December, the market utilizes its frontage along its Seaport District sidewalk… for outdoor seating, farmers market stands, food tastings, and educational information and outreach on community issues such as Seaport Waterfront Resilience,” adding, “we plan to increase our sidewalk farmers market activity in 2026.” It concludes, “any visual blockage of the Fulton Stall Market, its entrance and banner, and our sidewalk market and hospitality activities would have a devastating effect on our indoor and outdoor farmers market’s foot traffic.”

Echoing these concerns, Lucy Fato, executive vice president and general counsel of the Seaport Entertainment Group (SEG), proprietor of Pier 17 and other City-owned properties in the South Street Seaport neighborhood, wrote to CB1 in January, saying, “we strongly disagree with the proposed location of the South Street microhub [because]… the streets in this area get very busy and adding additional trucks and last-mile delivery vehicles will only exacerbate the traffic issues and frustrate residents, impacted businesses and visitors.” Ms. Fato added, “we have found incidents of trucks double parking to unload and packages spilling over onto the sidewalk,” and concluded, “were this not a pedestrian-focused area, adding a microhub would not be much of a concern; however, given that it is within the South Street Seaport district, with Imagination Playground and the Seaport Museum all within the same stretch of space, we do not believe it is an appropriate location for a microhub.”

At the January 26 meeting of its Executive Committee, CB1 urged DOT representatives to consider nearby sites. Board chair Tammy Meltzer said, “we looked at locations further down that were far quieter and wider,” offering as an example the inactive construction site at 161 Maiden Lane near the corner of South Street. Noting that the unfinished building at this site is known as “the Leaning Tower of the Seaport District” for its tilting frame, she added, “it’s in a protracted legal battle with no anticipation within the next two years to have any work done there. It’s a great location because it gives you access to do bike cargo, because it’s a much wider street. Have you considered that corner?”

DOT representative Catherine Ponte replied, “our site visit found a lot of authorized parking there,” a reference to the placard parking spaces reserved for government employees that are a perpetual source of complaints from Lower Manhattan residents.

“We would not tell you that getting rid of placard parking at any point would be a bad thing,” Ms. Meltzer countered.

Huma Husain, DOT’s director of freight mobility, noted the City’s Department of Environmental Protection and the Fire Department both reserve spaces adjacent to the Maiden Lane site, and said it would be “a battle for DOT to take away that parking.”

CB1 member Jason Friedman commented that the proposed site is “in a Historic District, right next to a playground, and where there’s supposed to be a future development.” These were references to the legally protected South Street Seaport Historic District, the Imagination Playground on John Street, and a parking lot that is slated to become home to an expansion of the South Street Seaport Museum. He continued, “I would strongly urge this to not be the site, and that staying out of Historic Districts be part of the criteria of for setting one of these up.”

CB1 member Pat Moore asked if Amazon would be paying for the use of this publicly owned real estate. Ms. Husain replied that the fee was $3,000 for the first year.

“So, they’re paying less than $10 per day,” commented Ms. Meltzer.

Ms. Husain replied, “it’s all we can do with the permit fee, which is very limited to administrative costs. It’s not ideal, which is why we’re only doing it for the pilot phase.”

Ms. Meltzer remarked, “parking meters make more money than that.”

The discussion concluded with the DOT team agreeing to search for new possible sites in the South Street Seaport area.

The DOT cites a range of metrics in support of its microhub initiative: More than 80 percent of New York City residents received a package at home in the last seven days, while 18 percent received packages on four or more days. The agency also notes that before the Covid pandemic, deliveries were split between commercial and residential customers at a ratio of 60 to 40 percent, but that balances has now shifted to roughly 80 percent of all deliveries going to directly to residential customers.

Before proposing to create a microhub at South Street, the DOT considered four other locations in Lower Manhattan. Two were in Battery Park City: on North End Avenue between Chambers and Warren Streets and South End Avenue near with intersection with West Thames Street. Another was in Tribeca, at Sixth Avenue and Franklin Street. The fourth was in the Seaport neighborhood, at the intersection of Fulton and Cliff Streets. In mid-2025, CB1 raised concerns about each of these sites, ranging from access to bus stops and houses of worship, as well as interfering with the construction of resiliency measures, which caused DOT to abandon those plans, and propose the South Street location.