By Joe Lamport
Managing Editor

The City Planning Commission unanimously voted Dec. 19 to approve the redevelopment proposal for the Bronx Terminal Market. The proposal now goes to City Council for review. The Council must vote within 60 days whether to approve or deny the application.

"The approval of the Gateway Center is bringing Bronx residents a step closer to vibrant shopping opportunities, new streets and most important over 5,000 job opportunities," said David Stearns, a spokesman for the Related Companies, which made the proposal. "We're eager to go to city council. We've gotten a lot of strong support in the Bronx."

The developers made a number of modifications to the project proposal after Community Board 4 and the Bronx Borough President's office had reviewed it and made suggestions, Stearns said.

The project would be more pedestrian friendly with the modifications, Stearns said. A long stretch of blank wall that Community Board 4 members had criticized would now include about 70,000 square feet of retail space for local businesses, he said. And the market's original building, erected in 1935, would be preserved under the modified plan.

"That building was to be demolished," he said. "After conversations with the city planning commission, the Related Companies are going to preserve that building. There is some historical significance to it at least as an icon in the neighborhood."

The $394 million project will include about 1 million square feet of retail space, a banquet facility and a hotel on the 16-acre site.

The plan faces challenges. Merchants who still use the market have sued to stop their evictions and others have raised concerns over the types of retail outlets that will take their place, if they do leave, in the new mall. Related Companies has said in recent reports that a Wal-Mart would not be one of the retailers in the mall.