By: Benyamin Davidsons

Manhattan’s Meatpacking District once boasted hundreds of meat merchants. Now, the last few remaining meatpackers may soon be packing out. As per Realty Check, the tenants may soon clear out to make way for 600 rental apartments, a Whitney Museum expansion and new facilities for Friends of the High Line. Over the past few decades, the meatpacking neighborhood has changed drastically, luring in posh hotels, trendy restaurants and luxury fashion retailers like Gucci and Hermes.

As reported by the NY Post, the Economic Development Corp (EDC) has undertaken an historic agreement with the last seven meatpackers in the Gansevoort Market Co-Op. The agreement stipulates that the seven meat merchants will move out of the city owned property before their leases expire in 2032

The iconic clustered low-rise brick buildings will be razed to allow for a project to be named to be named Gansevoort Square —featuring 600 apartments on land situated east of Tenth Avenue, between the Whitney museum and the Standard Hotel.

Mayor Eric Adams’ “new vision” would include “tackling generational, city-changing projects”. “Today, we’re thrilled to unveil our next big project — transforming 66,000 square feet at Gansevoort Square into 600 mixed-income housing units, a massive new open pavilion, and the city’s next cultural and artistic hub. The potential we have here is endless, and we’re excited to take the next steps towards turning our vision into a reality. I’m grateful to our partners at the Gansevoort Meat Market,

Councilmember Bottcher, the Whitney, the High Line, and more with whom we’re embarking on this next chapter in Gansevoort Square’s history together,” said Mayor Adams. Half of the apartments would be affordable, per the Post.

On Monday, at a breakfast of the Association for a Better New York, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres Springer officially announced the agreement. “The new vision for Gansevoort Square is the type of exciting, forward-looking project our administration is known for and the exact kind of project we want our city to continue to dream up and deliver,” said Torres-Springer. “In one area, we are delivering on much-needed affordable housing, creating more public space, and offering opportunities for two cultural icons to expand.” She said the city will start fielding requests for proposals for the site in November.

EDC president Andrew Kimball said the “mutual decision” for the meat market to leave “unlocks enormous potential to expand what is becoming a premier cultural destination for New Yorkers and tourists alike.”

Gansevoort Market president John Jobbagy said that “technological advances” have made the market’s processing facilities obsolete. “This opportunity [to leave] has come along at the right time,” Jobbagy said. The meat companies are not obliged to move out “until a project for the site is secured,” said a source for the Post. While the city has prioritized housing for the project, an insider said that the agreement gives the Whitney museum “right of first offer” over the whole site.

Whitney director Scott Rothkopf said the museum “engaged in promising talks with the city and Friends of the High Line about a unique opportunity to expand onto a neighboring city-owned site.”

Friends of the High Line executive director Alan van Capelle also commented, saying that he had “early conversations with the City and the Whitney Museum” for additional space “to better serve the elevated park’s seven million annual visitors.”