Small market-rate developers in the Bronx have slowed down their plans for new buildings since the 421-a tax abatement program expired last month. But a few risk takers are still planning projects in the borough’s more established neighborhoods, like Bedford Park. Last week, developer Arben Mitaj filed plans for an eight-story market-rate building at 3053 Villa Avenue, between Bedford Park Boulevard and East 204th Street in Bedford Park.
Property owner Franc Gjini has filed applications for a four-story, 11-unit residential building at 3430 Third Avenue, in Morrisania, located on the block between East 166th and 167th streets. The development will measure just 6,518 square feet in total and its residential units will average 593 square feet apiece, indicative of small rental apartments. The ground floor will host two apartments and the floors above will contain three apartments each. Pelham, N.Y.-based Fred Geremia Architects & Planners is the architect of record. The 25-foot-wide lot has long been vacant.
In October of 2015, YIMBY reported on applications for an 11-story, 116-unit residential building at 3084 Webster Avenue, in Norwood, located six blocks from the Norwood – 205th Street stop on the D train. The Department of Buildings disapproved the applications last November and the developer, Stagg Group, has now filed applications for a slightly larger project with Midtown-based Marin Architects, a different architecture firm than before. The latest plans call for an 11-story, 118-unit mixed-use building which would encompass 133,845 square feet in total, roughly 20,000 square feet larger than the previous filing. There will be 4,325 square feet of retail space and 3,185 square feet of community facility space on the ground floor. The apartments above should average a family-sized 1,008 square feet apiece, and 20 percent of them will rent at below-market rates. A two-story warehouse in the back of the site assemblage must first be demolished.
As we have reported, the Landmarks Preservation Commission is in the process of dealing with the backlog of 95 items that have been on its calendar since before 2010, some for decades. That process took a big step forward Tuesday, with 30 sites remaining on the calendar as priorities for designation vote by the end of 2016. Five sites were removed from the calendar for lack of merit.
Kim Tasher of SKF Development has filed applications for an eight-story, 39-unit residential building at 240 East 178th Street, in Mount Hope, located around the corner from the Tremont Avenue stop on the B and D trains. The project will encompass 27,603 square feet and its residential units, which appear to be market-rate, will average a rental-sized 648 square feet apiece. The new building will include laundry and a 782-square-foot recreation area in the cellar. Mohammad Badaly’s Mount Vernon-based Badaly Architects is the architect of record. The 50-foot-wide lot is currently occupied by a two-story wood-frame house, for which demolition permits have not been received.
