Plenty of hotels are cropping up in the South Bronx, but new hotels rarely arrive in northern Bronx neighborhoods like Belmont or University Heights. That appears to be changing with a filing for an eight-story hotel at 4729 Third Avenue in Belmont, just south of the Fordham University campus.
New building applications filed yesterday call for an 85-foot-tall hotel on a triangular lot bounded by Park Avenue, Third Avenue, and East 188th Street. The building would have 85 rooms and 38,053 square feet of commercial space, for rooms measuring roughly 450 square feet.
Travelers’ accommodations would begin on the first floor, with six rooms, followed by 10 rooms each on the remaining stories. The first floor would host the lobby, an office, sales room, and luggage storage, and there would be basic amenities in the cellar, like a breakfast area, laundry room, fitness room, and business center.
Oddly, no parking is listed on the permit, but we suspect there will still be a parking lot.
The developer is Neelam Chadha, doing business as a corporation based in Syosset, N.Y., and he’s hired Flushing-based architect Michael Kang to handle the design.
Chadha’s corporation purchased the 7,000-square-foot property for $307,000 in 2006. Four years later, the city rezoned several blocks along Third and Tremont Avenues.
The old zoning only allowed low-density commercial uses, but the new zoning encourages mixed-use, mid-rise development with residential, commercial, and community uses. Although we would prefer to see residential development here, it’s encouraging to see any kind of new construction in this part of the Bronx. Back in July, an HPD official told YIMBY that very little new development had arrived in the five years since the mostly industrial area was rezoned.
It’s a pretty convenient location for a hotel, because it’s only a block from Fordham, the neighborhood’s major commercial strip, and a Metro-North Railroad stop. There’s also a gas station next door.
The property does have an environmental designation, which means that the owner will have to spend some money to clean it up before he can develop it. However, the cleanup standards for a hotel are a bit less rigorous than for a residential project, and that may have been a factor in the developer’s decision about what to build.
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A hotel in the area makes perfect sense – as long as it is a “real” hotel. Fordham Univ. is right there. It is ranked #60 in the nation. The vast majority of schools in te top 100 have nice hotels near them where they can host visitors and symposiums. This project would be too small for that but at least it is something. Probably Southern Blvd. would be the best location for that type of hotel. The restaurants in the Arthur Ave area have long said they need a hotel in the area because they get many people who drive from hours away and would be willing to stay close by. Then there is the zoo and botanical gardens. More important than their status as tourist draws – both are at the top of their field in terms of science and research in the world! Many researchers from all over go and visit them – just like Fordham Univ. Only recently since the Marriott Residence Inn near Pelham Parkway/Morris Park opened have people had a place that was nice closer than Manhattan or Westchester County. Still – that is a 10-15 minute can ride away.
This will be a homeless shelter in no time. Fordham will not draw enough people year round for this to be a viable business. Let’s face it they are sneaking in these shelters in as hotels because the community will not protest a hotel.
this is going to be the first holiday inn express in the bronx. it will be a great addtion to fordham university.
love it great part to be in