Fresh Direct granted generous tax exemption package

IDA approved $81 million in incentives to assist Fresh Direct relocation to the Bronx. On February 14, 2012, the City’s Industrial Development Agency approved financial incentives of approximately $81 million to assist Fresh Direct in relocating its headquarters and operations center from Long Island City to the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. Fresh Direct, an Internet grocery delivery service, sought assistance to build a 500,000 sq.ft. distribution facility and separate parking and maintenance facilities. … <Read More>


Fence blocking public access to beach enjoined

Neighbors win claim of express easement to access beach along Long Island Sound. In 1928, Locust Point Estate subdivided a large parcel of land on the Throgs Neck peninsula in the Bronx into six residential parcels, and recorded a declaration granting to the new owners easements over six private roads including Casler Place, a dead-end street leading to a patch of beach on the shore of the Long Island Sound. Casler Place remained a private … <Read More>


City renews efforts to redevelop Kingsbridge Armory

The Kingsbridge Armory at 195th Street and Jerome Avenue. Image: Cityland

Previous redevelopment proposal defeated after Bronx leaders objected to project’s impact on community and developer’s refusal to agree to living wage provision. On January 12, 2012, the Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals for the redevelopment of the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. The 575,000 sq.ft. landmarked building features an open hall with high ceilings and 180,000 … <Read More>


Six BIDs increase budgets

Council authorized budget increases for BIDs in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens. On January 18, 2011, the City Council adopted a local law authorizing increases in the annual budgets of six business improvement districts in the City. The boards of directors of the Grand Central Partnership, the 24th Street Partnership and the 125th Street Partnership in Manhattan, the Fordham Road BID, and the Mosholu-Jerome-East Gun Hill Road BID in the Bronx, and the Bayside … <Read More>


Westchester Square BID re-enters objection period

Bronx BID formation delayed to ensure compliance with public notice requirements. On January 3, 2012, the City Council’s Finance Committee held a public hearing triggering another 30-day objection period for the Department of Small Business Services’ plan to create the Westchester Square Business Improvement District in the Bronx. The proposed BID would be within Bronx Community Boards 10 and 11. The district, with a proposed first-year budget of $320,000, would include 90 tax lots and … <Read More>


BSA Commissioner Susan M. Hinkson Discusses Her Varied Career

Susan M. Hinkson serves as one of the five Commissioners on the Mayor-appointed Board of Standards and Appeals. Hinkson, who is trained as both an architect and an attorney, was born and raised in the Bronx. Her father served as a justice in the Bronx County Supreme Court and her mother was a musician in the theater. Hinkson said her mother probably thought she would also go into theater, but around age fourteen Hinkson declared … <Read More>