By Matthew Monks
“It's very good for the community. People have been waiting for this for a long time, said Terri Adams, president of the Hunters Point Community Development Corp. “This is one of the many amenities the Hunters Point area of Long Island City needs.”The market at 48th Avenue between Vernon Boulevard and 5th Street will run Saturdays from July to December, Adams said. Residents have been clamoring for grocery store as Hunters Point has gone from an industrial enclave into one of the city's hottest real estate markets. While Vernon Boulevard has a handful of bodegas stocked with produce, locals complain that the prices are unreasonable. The closest grocery, a C-Town at 44th Avenue and 21st Street, is just out of comfortable walking range, Adams said. She made a push a decade ago for a farmers' market but could not generate enough interest.She fell short of the 500 signatures needed to draw a Greenmarket, a Council on the Environment of New York City program that sells fresh fruit and produce at 33 locations across the city. Queens has one in Jackson Heights. After Adams launched a petition drive in November, she racked up 791 signatures – a sign of the population boom the neighborhood has experienced with the building of the towering Citylights co-op and Avalon Riverview apartment buildings on the waterfront. Community Board 2 Chairman Joseph Conley estimated the high-end housing developments have drawn 1,500 new residents to the area since the late 1990s. He anticipates that the Greenmarket will be a big hit. “The neighborhood has been asking for place to go shopping for years,” he said. Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
