By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — In addition to flat-screen TVs and marble bathtubs, the Andaz Wall Street hotel will soon offer its guests a much less standard amenity: A farmers market.
On Saturdays starting July 10, hotel guests and local residents alike will be able to find everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to local pheasant eggs on the hotel plaza near the corner of Wall and William Streets. The market will also have a live band and monthly cooking classes with hotel restaurant Wall & Water’s executive chef, Maximo Lopez May.
“It's a chance for us to help the farmers’ community, and provide a nice service to the residents and visitors of the Wall Street neighborhood,” an Andaz spokeswoman said, adding that the hotel is the first in the city to open its own farmers market.
The Andaz market could be coming just in time, as the Financial District is about to lose a similar one: The Zuccotti Park Greenmarket, a few blocks north of Andaz, is likely cutting back from Tuesdays and Thursdays to just Tuesdays as of July 1.
Greenmarket, which runs markets throughout the city, recently decided to reduce the Zuccotti Park hours in order to open a new market in Battery Park City next month, a decision that pitted the adjacent neighborhoods against one another.
Ro Sheffe, chairman of Community Board 1’s Financial District Committee, said the neighborhood needs the Zuccotti market to expand, not shrink, and he is working with Greenmarket to find an additional location.
“I deplore moving any vendors out of the Financial District,” Sheffe said.
Percy Corcoran, the Battery Park City resident who fought for her neighborhood’s first Greenmarket, is excited the plans are moving forward, but she is sorry it is at the Financial District’s expense.
“It was never our intent to take away from another community,” Corcoran said.
The Battery Park City market, which will run Thursdays at South End Avenue and Liberty Street starting as soon as July 1, will feature eight vendors, while Zuccotti Park only has room for three.
Michael Hurwitz, executive director of Greenmarket, hopes the farmers will see higher sales by expanding into a larger space in Battery Park City.
Tsering Dhondup, 24, who works for the Red Jacket Orchards stand in Zuccotti Park, said he would be happy to move, since most customers come to Zuccotti Park only once a week anyway.
“Business is OK,” Dhondup said, “but it’s not as good as you would like.”
