Co-op City, in the northeastern Bronx, already has one of the city’s biggest malls at Bay Plaza Shopping Center. Now, reader Mike Giuliani has sent along photos of new retail headed for 500 Baychester Avenue, at the corner of Bartow Avenue near the mall.
The single-story building will span 9,800 square feet and include a 25-space parking lot. New building applications were filed in January, but the Department of Buildings hasn’t approved them yet. The lot has been cleared, but construction hasn’t started yet.
The 20,500-square-foot development site used to be a gas station, which was demolished last year. The new building will only cover 20% of the lot and use up just a quarter of the property’s allowed density. This part of the Bronx has plenty of available and relatively inexpensive land, and developers may not feel financial pressure to build as big as zoning allows.
500 Baychester Avenue, photo by Mike Giuliani
Joshua Goldman, of Midtown East-based Plymouth Group, is developing the project, and he’s hired architect Alexander Campagno, headquartered in the Garment District, to handle the design.
The property sold for $6,300,000 in 2013, or roughly $150 per buildable square foot.
Co-op City’s sprawling residential complex begins just north of here. Despite rising prices in much of the Bronx, it remains one of the most affordable places in all of New York City. Nearly 60,000 working class New Yorkers make their home in the development’s 35 high rises, but this area remains poorly served by public transit. The closest 6 train stop requires a local bus ride or a 20-minute walk, or residents can pay $6 to take the express bus into Manhattan.
But Co-op City might be more accessible a decade from now. This year’s state budget and the newly approved MTA capital plan include funding for four new Metro North stops in the Bronx, one of which would be in Co-op City. Last year, the MTA claimed that the new stations would be ready for service by December 2022, coinciding with the completion of the $10 billion East Side Access project.
500 Baychester Avenue, photo by Mike Giuliani
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It’s affordable simply because they are in the Mitchell Lama program. That said – there are plenty of professionals who live their… They sometimes buy property elsewhere where they can gain equity.