The South Bronx is suddenly booming with development, from affordable housing to market-rate rentals. But there are also plenty of hotels in the works, particularly in the area around Yankee Stadium.
Last week, we spotted plans for an 11-story hotel at 859 Sheridan Avenue, between 159th and 161st streets in Concourse Village. The 114-foot-tall building will replace a pair of attached wood frame houses, one of which was converted to a law office and real estate brokerage.
The hotel would have 82 rooms, stacked on top of a pharmacy on the first floor. The cellar would host laundry, a meeting room, a breakfast area, and a fitness room, followed by two rooms on the ground floor and eight on each of the upper floors. When construction is finished, the hotel will hold 31,580 square feet of commercial space.
Surprisingly, no parking is included in the permits. But the developer could still build a parking lot, and simply forgot to put it on the plans.
The developer is Nehalkumar Ghandi, based in North Bergen, N.J., and Flushing-based architect Michael Kang applied for the permits.
Demolition plans have been filed, but not yet approved, for the two houses on the site. Their imminent demise is a little sad, because it represents the last bit of the block’s unique architecture.
Most of this stretch of Sheridan Avenue was developed into hulking, mid-rise apartment blocks, first in the 1930s and then again in the 1960s. The eastern side of the street is dominated by Concourse Village, a series of 25-story, income-restricted co-op and rental buildings. They were built on top of the Mott Haven Railyard in 1965, and the Concourse Plaza shopping center and office towers joined them in 1998.
The city also rezoned this piece of Sheridan Avenue in 2009, changing the zoning from purely residential to mixed-use, which allows commercial development too.
Subscribe to YIMBY’s daily e-mail
Follow YIMBYgram for real-time photo updates
Like YIMBY on Facebook
Follow YIMBY’s Twitter for the latest in YIMBYnews
Very cute castle design with two colors, I suppose to be prince up to the bedroom.
Does the area need another pharmacy? The hotel would have been better off putting a cafe or small restaurant.
Usually I would bemoan the loss of small houses – but not those houses and not in that area. These houses aren’t really unique architecture as you might find in other blocks near there. Plus right at that corridor is very busy. Small homes don’t belong there nowadays. A hotel is better usage right there. An office building would have been good too.
Btw – as to parking – is it required by the zoning? If not it probably is more cost effective for developer not to have any. There is a huge underground lot right across the street at Concourse Plaza. As to transit. The Metro North is a short walk – as is the 4-B-D subway lines.
Parking is required for most commercial uses, including hotels.
I wish this development would swallow up the entire corner to E 161st St. That whole little strip is garbage in an area which should be more than a municipal district.
I also hope that this development is built to the sidewalk, in line with the neighboring apartment building and not set back.
I lived across the street for 17 yrs. My first apartment at age 18. I have seen the area change so much. I still go to the same dental office in concourse village. Glad to see a hotel come. As long as it does not house the homeless or transitional. Another pharmacy is the last thing the area needs. A block away is a big pharmacy. I call it drugs addict row. Once all those small houses are converted to a big building complex 161st may be complete. Push the addicts around the corner to drug rehab place.