Fordham Road Business Improvement District will expand to include One Fordham Plaza. Image Credit: Fordham Road BID

Fordham Road BID will incorporate One Fordham Plaza into the Bronx BID.  On July 9, 2014, the City Planning Commission approved the Fordham Road District Management Association’s application to expand the Fordham Road Business Improvement District to include two new lots located directly to the east of the existing BID.  The new lots are bounded by East Fordham Road to the north, East 189th Street to the south, Park Avenue to the east, and Washington Avenue to the west.  The BID currently stretches along Fordham Road between Jerome Avenue to the west and Webster Avenue to the east.  The BID lies within parts of Bronx Community Boards 5, 6, and 7; the expansion lots are located entirely within Community Board 6.

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Disposition of City-owned property will facilitate development of eightstory, 65-unit project for low-income seniors and special needs residents. On October 19, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to facilitate the construction of a 65-unit supportive housing project, known as El Rio Residence, in the West Farms section of the Bronx. Comunilife Inc., a non-profit health care agency, plans to develop the eight-story project on a 2,200 sq.ft. portion of a City-owned lot next to a building at 2064 Boston Road owned by Comunilife. The site is two blocks from the Bronx Zoo and the Bronx River Art Center. To facilitate the project, HPD requested permission to dispose of the property to Comunilife.

El Rio Residence would provide 29 affordable studio apartments for low-income seniors and 36 studios for seniors with mental illness. The project would include a 2,422 sq.ft. landscaped open space and a multipurpose room. Supportive services, including a communal kitchen and laundry room, would occupy the building’s ground floor.

Bronx Community Board 6 and Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. supported the proposal. No one opposed the proposal at the Commission’s October 5 public hearing, and the Commission unanimously approved the plan.

CPC: El Rio Residence (C 110365 HAX – UDAAP and dispo.) (Oct. 19, 2011) (Architect: Gran Kriegel Associates Architects + Planners).

Three-building project on former railway site will include 141 affordable rental apartments. On April 6, 2011, the City Council approved a proposal by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to allow Phipps Houses to develop a three-building affordable housing project on two vacant through-block lots in the East Tremont section of the Bronx. Phipps will construct an eight-story residential building and a ten-story mixed-use building at 1155 East Tremont Avenue, and a ten-story mixed-use building across the street at 1176 East Tremont Avenue. The project will provide 141 rental units marketed to households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income.

The City-owned lots were once occupied by the now-defunct elevated New York, Westchester, and Boston Interurban Railway. Remnants of the railway’s train trestle remain on both lots. The surrounding area is characterized by five- to six-story tenement buildings, older multi-unit homes, and vacant lots. The area’s underlying M1-1 zoning prohibits residential uses, which caused HPD in October 2010 to apply to BSA for use variances to facilitate the project. 7 CityLand 169 (Dec. 2010). HPD’s current proposal included a request for a UDAAP designation and special permits to build on a railroad right-of-way. (read more…)

HPD claimed that abandoned railway complicated the development of two lots. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development applied for use variances in order to construct a three-building affordable housing development on two vacant through-block lots zoned for manufacturing in the East Tremont section of the Bronx.

The Phipps Houses Group’s 141-unit project will include an eight-story residential building and a ten-story mixed-use building at 1155 East Tremont Avenue, and a ten-story mixed-use building located directly across the street at 1176 East Tremont Avenue. Both lots were previously occupied by the elevated New York, Westchester, and Boston Interurban Railway. Remnants of the abandoned train trestle, including several in-ground concrete supports, remain on both lots.

HPD claimed that the trestle remnants, subsurface contamination, and the area’s high water table would constrain a viable manufacturing use for the site. HPD estimated that it would cost a combined $6.1 million to clean up the sites and remove the railway remnants. HPD also claimed that the requested variances were necessary in order to provide the minimum number of apartments needed to maintain the project’s financial viability and fulfill the agency’s programmatic goals. (read more…)

Rezoning of 75 blocks along the Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors will expand permissible uses to reflect existing development. On October 13, 2010, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s 75-block rezoning in central Bronx. The plan impacts the east-west commercial Tremont Avenue corridor bounded by Daly and Webster Avenues, and the north-south industrial Third Avenue corridor which is generally bounded by East 189th and East 175th Streets. A third area, the Neighborhood Preservation Area, borders Third Avenue to the west and extends to Park Avenue between Cyrus Place to the north and Tremont Avenue to the south.

Planning proposed the rezoning to encourage development along the two mixed-use corridors while preserving the residential character of the Neighborhood Preservation Area. The proposal applied commercial and special mixed-use districts in the industrial corridor, which allows new residential and commercial uses on vacant and underutilized lots while also protecting existing light manufacturing uses. (read more…)

Rezoning would impact 75 blocks along the Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors. On September 15, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to rezone 75 blocks along the intersecting Third Avenue and Tremont Avenue corridors in central Bronx. The L-shaped rezoning area comprises three sections. The east/west Tremont Avenue corridor is bounded by Daly Avenue and Webster Avenue. The industrial Third Avenue corridor, running north/south, is generally bounded by East 189th Street and East 175th Street. A third section, the Neighborhood Preservation Area, borders the Third Avenue corridor to the west and extends to Park Avenue between Cyrus Place to the north and Tremont Avenue to the south.

Planning seeks to expand the development potential along the mixed-use corridors while preserving the existing residential character of the Neighborhood Preservation Area. To promote the creation of affordable housing, the proposal would apply the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program to the Third and Tremont Avenue corridors. The rezoning would also apply three mixed-use districts to the Third Avenue corridor in order to preserve existing light industrial uses and encourage the redevelopment of vacant and underutilized lots. (read more…)