Last week we reported that the landmarked Bronx General Post Office was for sale for a cool $75 million and now, another beloved Bronx landmark is up for sale in the South Bronx.
The Old Bronx Courthouse in Melrose at 161st and 3rd Avenue which has been sitting vacant for nearly half a century is on the market for $35 million after a decade of failed developments at the site.
Construction for the mammoth 120,000 plus building started in 1905 and was completed by 1914—the same year that The Bronx became an official county of New York State—but with the population explosion that was occurring in the borough during that time, it soon was insufficient space for a borough of 1.25 million residents.
By 1934, today’s Bronx County Courthouse was completed and the majority of services and departments left the Old Bronx Courthouse for the new building on the Grand Concourse just a few blocks away.
The building remained active as a police court until 1977 and since then, for almost 50 years, the building has sat empty.
In 1998, Liberty Square Realty purchased the Old Bronx Courthouse in an auction from the city and has held the property since then with hopes of reviving it for some sort of community use but several deals have fallen through since then with the last being in 2017 when charter school giant, Success Academy, leased the space to convert it into a high school.
This is yet another example of the landmarks of The Bronx as symbols of broken promises sitting vacant when they could be put to good use for the community.
Elected officials have had more than ample opportunities to come up with creative ideas that reflect the community wishes for these spaces to benefit the residents but have neglected to do so.
How many more empty spaces must continue to sit and languish vacantly while the surrounding communities suffers the consequences?
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