Pest Control in Hunts Point, Bronx
Hunts Point is a peninsula at the southeastern edge of the South Bronx, bounded by the Bronx River, the East River and the Bruckner Expressway. It is best known for the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, a sprawling complex of produce, meat and fish markets that supplies a large share of the fresh food eaten in the New York region. A compact residential area centered on Hunts Point Avenue and Lafayette Avenue houses a mostly Puerto Rican and Dominican community, and the 6 train stops at Hunts Point Avenue and Longwood Avenue. Barretto Point Park and Hunts Point Riverside Park have opened public access to the waterfront after decades when it was fenced off by industry.
Also known as: Hunts Point Peninsula.
About Hunts Point
The peninsula takes its name from the Hunt family, who settled here in the 1600s, and for two centuries it was a place of farms and country estates owned by families such as the Spoffords and Barrettos. Rail lines and the growth of the Bronx brought apartment buildings in the early 1900s, and after World War II the city designated the peninsula for industry. The Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market opened in 1967 and the Fulton Fish Market relocated here in 2005.
Common Pest Problems in Hunts Point
Few places in New York have rat pressure like Hunts Point. Tons of produce, meat and fish move through the markets every night, and spilled food, pallets and truck traffic support large rat colonies around the distribution center, the recycling and waste transfer facilities and the rail spurs. Those rats don't respect the line between industrial and residential blocks, so tenants on streets like Faile, Manida and Barretto regularly deal with burrows in yards and tree pits and rodents entering basements.
Mice and German cockroaches are common inside the neighborhood's older walk-ups, where deliveries and food businesses make reinfestation easy. The waterfront parks and the wet soil near the Bronx River and the treatment plant keep basements damp, which invites centipedes and other moisture-loving pests. Pigeons roost on warehouse rooftops and the Bruckner Expressway overpasses. Because pressure from the markets is constant, landlords here usually need scheduled exterior baiting and exclusion rather than occasional spot treatments.