A developer, who last month purchased 12 acres along the Harlem River for $32 million, is proposing a mega development that would include thousands of residential units, a hotel, and even a science center.
Dynamic Star is seeking to develop the prime waterfront land directly south of the University Heights Bridge at Fordham Road next to the University Heights Metro North station into a massive 5 million square foot development being called Fordham Landing.
According to the Real Deal and the New York Post, the development, if approved by the city along with the needed rezonings of the land, would include 2,800 residential units, an e-sports stadium, retail space as well as space for community use, conference center and hotel, and a 700,000 square foot Life Science Center for the gene therapy industry.
Rendering of ‘Fordham Landing’, the proposed $3.5 billion development by Dynamic Star.
The vast majority of the residential units will be market rate if the developer pursues the 70/30 program which sets aside 30% of the units as “affordable” with the rest as market rate.
A development this size 3 miles north from the current Port Morris/Mott Haven Harlem River Waterfront hot spot where thousands of units are planned or under construction simply demonstrates how eager developers are to develop anywhere there is sufficient land size in The Bronx.
If approved, this development would only serve to fuel the gentrification currently gripping The Bronx and how will this impact the immediate area which is currently one of the most at risk for displacement in all of New York City?
Site of proposed ‘Fordham Landing’ at 320 West Fordham Road
Although located in Community Board 7, the site is located directly across from CB5 where 64.4% of the population is severely rent-burdened and 16% are unemployed— almost 3x the most recent Bronx unemployment rate.
While a fully developed and accessible waterfront with such amenities seems quite attractive, at what cost will this come to the existing residents struggling to simply survive?
Carmelo Anthony may be expanding his footprint in the South Bronx.
The former Knick recently met with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. to talk about a “basketball facility” proposed for 845 East 136 Street in Port Morris, according to documents obtained by THE CITY.
The forward nicknamed “Melo” has been holding meetings to gauge opinions on the rec center idea, though talks appear preliminary, a source with knowledge of the Diaz-Anthony discussion told THE CITY.
“That would be wavy, I’m not gonna lie,” said Izaya Gray, of Mott Haven, who was skateboarding near hoops on Westchester and Forest Avenues. “They don’t have a lot of rec centers out here. Shoutout to Carmelo Anthony!”
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. speaks at the State of the Bronx 2019 address. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The building on East 136, which housed a self-storage until about a year-and-a-half ago in the fast-gentrifying neighborhood, is not currently occupied, according to a local broker.
Tom Cisco, leasing agent for the space, said that Somerset Real Estate was working with an interested client. Somerset, which teamed up with Anthony on a nearby pizzeria, did not return requests for comment.
Diaz met with Anthony the afternoon of April 30, according to a copy of the borough president’s schedule obtained by THE CITY through a Freedom of Information Law request.
It’s unclear what the exact plan is for the two-story, 94,000-square-foot site. Both Diaz’ office and Anthony’s representatives declined to comment.
EXR-Somerset commercial broker Andrew Roth said Anthony was “very excited” about expanding his presence in the neighborhood.
“He’s a big South Bronx fan and believes in its growth,” Roth said.
Melo Shoots for the Bronx
Anthony, who was born in Brooklyn, has established a position in the South Bronx in recent years. Last May, the New York Post reported Anthony was an investor in Nobody’s Pizza — which is about 10 blocks from the potential basketball center.
At the time, he told the paper that he was excited to get into a venture that combined “food, entertainment, sports and real estate.”
The pro-baller tried to open a sports center in the city before: In 2015, he announced his foundation would contribute funds for a facility proposed as part of the Bedford-Union Armory redevelopment in Brooklyn. But he pulled out following pressure from activists worried about accelerating gentrification in Crown Heights.
Carmelo Anthony speaks at a December 2015 press conference unveiling plans for the Bedford-Union Armory in Crown Heights. Photo: Rachel Holliday Smith/DNAinfo
It’s unclear how a similar play would run south of the Bruckner, where booming development, rising housing costs and fear of displacement have polarized some living in the area.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Princess Sanchez, who’s lived in Mott Haven most of her life. “The youth nowadays do need something to do.”
“It’s going to discourage them if it costs too much,” countered her cousin, Julio Sanchez, who also lives in the neighborhood. “I mean, some of them don’t even have money to eat. So how would they be able to use something like this, if the price is out of reach?”
All over Mott Haven and Port Morris, new construction is beginning to peek through a once-sparse skyline. Restaurants and businesses are springing up, too, inviting a wash of newcomers to the area. Corporations also have seized on the location — not far from 845 East 136 Street, HBO leased a 92,000 square-foot warehouse space to produce part of “The Deuce.”
Between 2016 and 2018, the price per square foot for home sales in the Mott Haven and nearby Melrose shot up close to 60%, according to a 2019 report from the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, a nonprofit that advocates for affordable housing. Around 58% of those living in the area are considered “rent-burdened,” the report says.
This story was originally published by THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
Bronx filmmaker and cinematographer Nadia Hallgren’s 37-minute short documentary, After Maria, premieres on Netflix this week
After Maria follows three Puerto Rican women and their families after Hurricane Maria as they struggle to get their lives back after the catastrophic storm that left thousands dead, something exacerbated by the Trump administration’s abysmal response to the disaster.
The women are living in a FEMA hotel in The Bronx, and are just a few of thousands that were scattered across the mainland after Maria hit.
Watch below and make sure to watch the documentary when it streams on Netflix on May 24th.
Police took longer to assign officers to crimes reported in Bronx neighborhoods than anywhere else in New York City in 2018, according to the city Independent Budget Office’s analysis of precinct dispatch times.
The average dispatch time across the city for roughly 450,000 possible crime-in-progress incidents in 2018 was 3 minutes, 48 seconds. That’s up from a citywide average of 3 minutes in 2014, according to IBO’s report.
But in some parts of The Bronx — Wakefield and Highbridge — it took about 8 minutes on average to assign a cop to a call.
That’s more than double the citywide figure and over five times the shortest dispatch lag, which was claimed by the 100th Precinct in the Rockaways, according to the report.
Overall, 10 of the 12 precincts in The Bronx recorded dispatch times higher than the city average. The average dispatch time in the borough last year exceeded the citywide number by close to two minutes — meaning the gap tripled since 2014, according to the IBO.
The Independent Budget Office’s report notes the city does not publish data precinct-by-precinct reporting how long it takes cops to respond to a 911 call.
Analysts were left to work with data show how long it takes for a police dispatcher to “find and assign officers to a possible crime in progress.”
Residents in the neighborhoods with some of the longest police dispatch times, said they were not surprised by IBO’s findings.
“You have to be dying in order for them to come over here,” said Grace Coleman, who has lived in Highbridge, home to the 44th Precinct, for decades. “You’ve gotta be sick. If you’ve got an emergency and you don’t hail ‘em, like a cab, they don’t stop.”
Police took an average of 7 minutes and 42 seconds to dispatch officers to crime-in-progress calls in the 44th Precinct last year, said the report.
“A minute can mean the difference between life and death,” said Maria Ovando, a Highbridge resident who works as an intensive care unit technician. “Even 30 seconds can make a big difference.”
‘We Need Attention’
The 47th Precinct, which covers Wakefield, in the far northeast corner of the borough, logged the worst average dispatch time, at 8 minutes, 2 seconds.
“That’s not good,” said Rema Blair, a Wakefield resident. “We need attention, quicker help. They [police] take too long to come, just like the bus sometimes.”
“Wakefield?” asked a surprised Ovando. “That’s even worse to hear — I’m trying to move out there.”
The Bronx had by far the highest average dispatch time of any borough: 5 minutes, 22 seconds. It was followed by Brooklyn at 3 minutes, 19 seconds; Manhattan at 3 minutes, 11 seconds; Queens at 2 minutes, 40 seconds; and Staten Island at 2 minutes, 29 seconds, based on the THE CITY’s crunching of the numbers provided by the IBO.
In a statement, an NYPD spokesperson emphasized that overall response time by police officers is on the decline.
In the latest Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report, from February, the NYPD said that its “end-to-end average response time” to all crimes in progress dropped to 10 minutes, 8 seconds in 2018 from 10 minutes, 35 seconds in 2016.
“The NYPD response to crimes in progress and critical crimes in progress has gone down year-over-year since 2014,” said the spokesperson, Sgt. Jessica McRorie. “Reducing response times to 911 calls is a priority of the NYPD so officers can provide assistance, initiate an investigation or render aid.”
This story was originally published by THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
Yes, our title is a bold statement but we’ve eaten lechón, aka Puerto Rican roast pork from many places, including at family gatherings, but outside the home there’s only one place to go: La Piraña Lechonera.
Located at 152nd Street and Wales and operated out of a truck, this place is a lechonera lover’s dream.
Run by Angel Jimenez aka Piraña, he prepares and cooks the pork just like he learned from his grandparents and parents back in Puerto Rico.
When Jimenez isn’t there—the days he needs a break after working a week straight—people notice; they ask where he’s been. For him, his customers, and for the community of the South Bronx, La Piraña is an experience of home. “People dancing, eating, having fun, like Puerto Rican style,” he said. “I’ve been making it like that since I started. They sit down, eat, feel like family.” The work is long, but he says that the love from his customers keeps him going. And he returns it, too, giving food to children and to the homeless. “Whatever you’ve got, you’ve gotta give it to them. You say no, it’s not a good look for you,” he said.
One day, he hopes to turn the lechonera into his only gig: with a brick-and-mortar restaurant, where pictures of his family—and his father’s machetes, used both for cutting wood and hacking lechón—will line the walls. Even if the setting changes, Jimenez says the location won’t. “I love the Bronx,” he told us. “That’s where I grew up. Never forget where you come from.”
In the 1990s, Bronxite Felipe López was on his way to become one of the most famous basketball players of our time.
But that day never really came for the Dominican immigrant living in The Bronx despite having been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated after graduating high school highlighting his promising career.
A new documentary, The Dominican Dream, offers a window into what happened to López.
Director Jonathan Hock gives López, his family, his coaches and teammates — and even fans from back in the day like A-Rod! — the chance to recount how young Felipe first dazzled an entire community in the late 80s and early 90s. And, as its title suggests, this is an immigrant story: the López family first moved from the Dominican Republic to the Bronx in the 80s, in the hopes of offering their kids a better future. Sadly, Felipe and his sister were first denied visas, and so had to spend a couple of years away from their family. When they arrived in the Bronx, then a borough all but synonymous with drugs and violence, their older brother suggested Felipe join a local basketball league.
Watch the trailer below and you can catch the full documentary over at ESPN.
After several years without a bookstore, when Barnes and Noble left The Bronx and nearly 1.5 million residents stranded without a place to satisfy their literary needs and desires in 2016, our borough is set to get a second book store.
The news comes after the much anticipated opening of The Lit. Bar last month in Port Morris when our borough once again got a book store.
Bronx Bound Books announced that it is coming to a neighborhood near you at an intimate gathering on Sunday evening at the Bronx Music Heritage Center.
The business reveal of Bronx Bound Books this past Sunday was a standing room only event as people packed the place to hear about the launch of The Bronx’s second book store.
And the store is leaving no community behind as it will be a mobile book store able to travel throughout the borough especially to neighborhoods where it may be needed the most.
Lifelong Bronx resident Latanya DeVaughn, CEO and founder of Bronx Bound Books, told Welcome2TheBronx exclusively that although the mobile store will travel thoughout The Bronx, “I want to have a few fixed locations in The Bronx. Especially those places that have two fare zones.”
Residents of neighborhoods like Co-op City, Soundview and Throggs Neck, who rely on public transportation are all too familiar with navigating via a two-fare zone within the borough.
“If it takes person more than a half hour to get to their nearest bookstore by public transport. I want to be located there. Accessibility and visibility are my top priority. ” she added.
And it’s not just simply a mobile book store but it will be a community hub traveling throughout The Bronx and that much was already evident based on Sunday night’s crowd at the business reveal for Bronx Bound Books.
Latanya DeVaughn (right) talks about what Bronx Bound Books will be bringing to the community.
The room was filled with friends and people who know DeVaughn and during the Q&A portion of the event one person asked, “Now that we’re here, what can we do to help you get this off the ground? What do you need from us?”
The question was immediately followed by a cascade of support from individuals ready to help paint and design the mobile store to even the donation of an old school bus for use.
Tanya Fields, founder and executive director of the Black Feminist Project, surprised DeVaughn by announcing that she would donate her school bus, which she uses as a mobile food market to deliver fresh produce to underserved communities in food deserts, to Bronx Bound Books to use.
Nilka Martell, founder of Loving The Bronx and resident of Parkchester said, “We are thrilled over the concept of a mobile book store. This will make books and services available to the communities in The Bronx that need it the most.”
Bronx Bound Books will be up and running when DeVaughn raises a target of $65,000 but in the meantime, she’s already doing the work by foot making her 20 year dream in the making already a reality.
“I have a contract with a local shelter where I will be bringing them books as well as building them a library” she told Welcome2TheBronx in an interview.
And starting May 7th, she will also be starting a writing workshop with the shelter every Tuesday.
Bronx Bound Books will be announcing its fundraiser for the $65,000 so be sure to follow them Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the latest news or send them an email.
People from The Bronx, and more specifically WOMEN, continue to break records and shattering barriers.
The FDNY will, as of tomorrow, have their first ever woman and first ever gay Chief of EMS in New York City history as Lillian Bonsignore takes the reigns over the 4,500 employees of the department.
“I take this promotion very seriously,” she said. “I had a difficult childhood … and I would not be in this position if not for the strong women who were placed in my path along the way. They encouraged me and kept me going.”
According to the Daily News, when Bonsignore first began working for EMS she thought she was only gonna work for the summer as she had her eyes set on going to medical school.
FDNY’s new EMS Chief, Lillian Bonsignore will take the helm of the department starting tomorrow./Image via Lillian Bonsignore
Little did she ever think that 28 years later, she’d become the highest ranking individual of the department.
“I take this promotion very seriously,” she said. “I had a difficult childhood … and I would not be in this position if not for the strong women who were placed in my path along the way. They encouraged me and kept me going.” she told the Daily News.
Congratulations to Lillian Bonsignore and thanks for making us proud!
What more proof do you need not to ever mess with a woman from The Bronx? They’re a force to be reckoned with!
Two Bronx schools have made New York City’s top ten best high school’s list according to US News and World Report.
Coming in at 5th place (unsurprisingly) is Bronx High School of Science which ranked 49th in the country and also 5th place in the state.
In at 6th place is High School of American Studies at Lehman College which ranked an impressive 57th in the country and 6th in the state according to the report.
In the report’s top 50th list, a total of 5 other schools made the cut and are as follows:
49. The Laboratory School of Finance and Technology
45. Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics
43. University Heights Secondary School-Bronx Community College
41. Academy for Language and Technology
Pan American International High School at Monroe
The schools were ranked based on college readiness (30%), math and reading proficiency (20%), math and reading performance (20%), underserved student performance (10%), college curriculum breadth (10%), and graduation rate (10%).
See the full list of top 50 NYC high schools here.
The potential future site of the disputed drug-treatment clinic at 5622 Broadway in Kingsbridge, The Bronx. Photo: Ese Olumhense/THE CITY
Two Bronx lawmakers petitioning the state to deny a license to a planned upscale drug treatment center in Kingsbridge argue the neighborhood doesn’t have an opioid problem — a claim at odds with city statistics on fatal overdoses.
The private outpatient facility, slated to include yoga sessions and personal trainers, would be “a great hindrance to a community not at the center of this epidemic,” Democratic Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilmember Andrew Cohen wrote in an April 13 letter obtained by THE CITY.
“It is concerning to know that this location could potentially introduce a problem to a community where there isn’t one,” they said in the note to state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner Arlene Gonzalez-Sanchez.
Yet statistics compiled by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene show the Riverdale/Kingsbridge area ranked 15th worst out of the city’s 42 health districts in its rate of fatal opioid overdoses in 2017, with 18.3 deaths for every 100,000 residents.
And neighborhoods just to the east, across the Major Deegan Expressway, logged the city’s fifth-worst opioid fatality rate in the city that year, with 31.2 deaths per 100,000 residents in the zip codes covering Norwood, Bronx Park and Belmont. Those areas recorded 37.1 deaths per 100,000 for all fatal drug overdoses that year.
A No-Medicaid Zone
Operators of the clinic, named Ekawa — “awake” backwards — have signed a 10-year lease on a second-floor space in a former Conway’s discount store on Broadway and 232nd Street.
The facility will only take private insurance, said Ekawa lobbyist Jeff Klein, who formerly represented the area in the state Senate and now works for Mercury Public Affairs, following his defeat in November’s election. Ekawa will not accept Medicaid, Klein said.
Ekawa plans to offer “fantastic amenities” like yoga, meditation, group therapy and personal trainers in a spa-like facility open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, alongside both medication-free and medication-assisted treatment for addiction, such as buprenorphine and methadone.A rendering of the proposed Ekawa treatment clinic. Photo: Courtesy ofJeff Klein/Mercury Public Affairs
Many treatment professionals consider medication-assisted therapies vital against addictions notoriously hard to kick. “Bupe pretty much saved my life,” said Shantae Owens, a Highbridge resident who used to use heroin and now works at a harm reduction center on the Lower East Side.
Owens slammed as baseless the notion that opioid addiction is only some other neighborhoods’ problem.
“People need to really wake up,” he said. “Where do they think these people were? Where do they think we were? We were the community, we were already in the community.
“We’ve always been in your backyard, I’m still in the backyard. And now I’m trying to clean up the backyard.”
Dinowitz — who used to chair the Assembly’s Standing Committee on Alcoholism and Drug abuse — told THE CITY he is generally supportive of drug treatment centers. But he expressed “strong reservations” about putting the clinic on a bustling commercial strip.
“It’s more sensible to locate it in an area where it would impact fewer people,” Dinowitz said.
A Luxury Experience
In their letter demanding the state deny Ekawa a license, Dinowitz and Cohen raised another, seemingly contradictory, objection — that the center would exclude local low-income residents in need.
“The proposed center is set to open for private insurances only while being placed in a community where a large number of the population are Medicaid recipients,” they wrote. “[I]t has no intention of serving the community where it will be operating.”
State Senator Gustavo Rivera, another Democrat who represents the area, told THE CITY he shares that concern.
“In my opinion, drug treatment facilities, such as Ekawa, are primarily focused on profits rather than providing potentially life-saving services to very vulnerable populations,” he said. “The Bronx has a large Medicaid population, and a company that seeks to help people overcome substance addiction should not be excluding a portion of the neighborhood they seek to settle in.”
Ekawa Group, LLC was incorporated in November under the name of an old hand in Bronx politics: Francisco Lugovina, who chaired the county Democratic party in the 1980s until stepping aside amid scrutiny of his contracts with the city and with Cablevision as it sought exclusive rights to provide cable service to the Bronx. Lugovina did not respond to messages left by THE CITY.
“People need (the clinic),” said Angel Torres, who’s worked in the area for 18 years. Photo: Ese Olumhenses/THE CITY
Ekawa is in the process of filling out an application to become an OASAS-licensed treatment provider, Klein told THE CITY, adding that Lugovina is not involved in the company. While Klein is barred from lobbying members of the Legislature for two years, he can still lobby the governor’s office, state agencies and local New York City representatives.
That includes Community Board 8, where Klein — just months ago one of the mightiest men in Albany under a power-sharing agreement — made the case for the treatment clinic last month to skeptical locals, who expressed concerns about safety, public nuisances, privacy, parking and drug dealing.
‘If Not Here, Then Where’
The drug-treatment clinic proposal does have its local supporters.
“People need it,” said Angel Torres, who has sold fruits and vegetables in the area for 18 years. “People need some help.”
Others in the business community were wary of a new neighbor on a lively commercial strip.
“My moral standpoint and my business standpoint are kind of in two different places,” said Nick Koury, co-owner of Build N Box, a fitness center across the street from the site. “It’s great for people who need help with their drug habits, but I’m not sure of the effect all of it is going to have on business.”
Advocates for people fighting addiction urge the north Bronx to set any fears aside.
“There’s always that pushback, that we don’t need more of those in our neighborhood, when really, we need to do everything we can to keep people alive,” said Jasmine Budnella, drug policy coordinator at VOCAL-NY, an advocacy group for low-income New Yorkers affected by drugs, health issues and homelessness.
“If not here,” she said, “then where is the best location?”
This story was originally published by THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
Out of New York City’s 59 community districts, The Bronx is home to six of the top ten community districts facing the biggest threats of displacement in the city.
Out of these, Community Board 5 in The Bronx, which covers the University Heights and Fordham neighborhoods of our borough, faces the biggest threat of displacement in New York City according to the latest report from the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development.
Not surprising, the area is also home to the massive Jerome Avenue Rezoning which was approved last year despite overwhelming community opposition.
The report also indicates that a shocking number of residents are rent burdened, meaning that they are paying more than 30% of their income towards rent but no where was this higher in New York City than Community Board 5 in The Bronx.
The Jerome Avenue Rezoning is located within Community Board 5 which has the highest threat of displacement in New York City according to a new report by ANHD.
64.4% of residents in University Heights and Fordham are rent burdened and coupled with a 16% unemployment rate among a host of other issues makes this area highly vulnerable to displacement and of course gentrification.
The following Bronx community boards made the top ten list of neighborhoods facing the greatest threats for displacement in New York City:
Community Board 1: Melrose/Mott Haven/Port Morris
Community Board 3: Morrisania/Crotona
Community Board 4: Highbridge/Concourse
Community Board 5: University Heights/Fordham
Community Board 6: Belmont/Tremont
Community Board 7: Kingsbridge Heights/Bedford
Community Board 2, covering Hunts Point/Longwood, was the only South Bronx neighborhood which didn’t make the top ten list.
Community Boards 10 and 11 in the East Bronx had some of the least threats of displacement in The Bronx and New York City .
CB 8 covering Riverdale and Fieldston had the least threat of displacement in The Bronx.
You can read the full report over at ANHD’s website.
The following was originally published over at Hidden Waters Blog, a companion blog to the amazing Hidden Waters of NYC book by Sergey Kadinsky, and reprinted with permission.
On the Bronx side of the Harlem River sandwiched between the stream, a railway, and a highway is Bridge Park, the newest link in what will be a series of parks running from Kingsbridge to Mott Haven on a formerly industrial shoreline. At this park, one gets dramatic views from underneath three arch bridges linking the Bronx to upper Manhattan.
At the southern entrance to the park is the oldest standing bridge connecting Manhattan to the mainland. Completed in 1848, the bridge carried the city’s drinking water in a Roman-style aqueduct reminiscent of the Pont du Gard in France. Between 1923 and 1927, five of the original 16 arches were removed in favor of a steel arch in order to improve navigation on the Harlem River. Eugene de Salignac was on scene to document the transformation. The walkway atop High Bridge functions as the uptown version of the celebrated High Line, albeit with less crowding. This section of the park has not yet been developed, appearing like an urban wasteland while plans are made to give it a more naturalistic scene.
Further south from High Bridge, looking down from the walkwayis Highbridge Facility, a rail yard serving the Metro North railroad. Its presence impedes the possibility of a continuous shoreline walkway between Bridge Park and Mill Pond Park a mile to the south.
Metro North blogger Emile Moser tells the story of this rail yard. I suppose there is space along the water’s edge for a public walkway here, but it would be quite slim here. The rail yard has its own employees-only station, which is good for workers on site as the nearest subway and public train stations are nearly a mile away.
The road along the river is Exterior Street, a generic name that also appears near the former Bronx Terminal Market and beneath University Heights Bridge. Its name denotes the closest street to the waterfront, similar to the role given to Marginal Street, which appears in different places on the edges of Manhattan. The arch in the foreground is Alexander Hamilton Bridge, which carries Interstate 95 (Cross Bronx Expressway). Behind it is the more historic Washington Bridge.
Not to be confused with the nearby George Washington Bridge, named after the same individual. Its twin 510-foot spans were completed in late 1889, the same year as Eiffel Tower. Both were regarded at the time as engineering marvels with great views from the top.
In the park is a stone abutment with stairs to nowhere that appears as an architectural folly. In reality it was built alongside Washington Bridge as a pedestrian walkway connecting the water’s edge to the neighborhood above.
The industrialization of the shoreline and additional rail tracks here resulted in the removal of this bridge. The only way to access Bridge Park today is either through Fordham Road at its northern entrance, or Depot Place a mile to the south. The cliff, railroad, and Major Deegan Expressway conspire to separate the park from the neighborhood.
A 1902 scene of Bridge Park from the Municipal Archives shows the slope alongside the bridge with its trimmed lawn and the footbridge above the tracks with its stone abutment. Industry had not yet arrived to the park site, which was a wetland at the time.
A closer 1902 view of the original Bridge Park shows the footbridge connecting to a dock on the shore. The dock would be removed and the wetland on either side will be filled with rubble in 1927. The arch running above land will later have the Major Deegan Expressway running under it, with ramps on the slope connecting to Cross Bronx Expressway and Washington Bridge. The hilltops will have towering apartments. The only items present today from this bucolic scene are Washington Bridge and the stone abutment.
In 1934 photographer Percy Loomis Sperr had a view of Washington Bridge. On the water’s edge are coal docks. This view would be unrecognizable today. In 1955, Major Deegan Expressway was completed on the Bronx side of Harlem River, eliminating Commerce Avenue. In 1963, the Cross Bronx Expressway eliminated W. 171st Street here, and the two green medians of Undercliff Place and Boscobel Place. A tangle of ramps connect the two highways, leaving only the small waterfront portion of the original Bridge Park. Today’s waterfront park includes that original parcel within it.
At the park’s northern end, the greenery continues as Roberto Clemente State Park. In 1973 this park was constructed together with River Park Towers, a self-contained community designed with an appearance identical to Waterside Plaza on Manhattan’s Kips Bay. The Morris Heights station provides residents with a quick commute to Grand Central. The park opened at a time when national and state parks were seeking to connect with urban residents by opening up new parks within cities.
The master plan for Bridge Park seeks to reconnect its visitors with the water and revive the rowing tradition on Harlem river in the same way that the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse at Swindler Cove does on the opposite shore. also included in this plan is a demonstration garden, greenhouse, pebble beach, and lawns. As with other post-millennial waterfront Parks, the design by Starr Whitehouse with Perkins + Will has resiliency in mind with the frequency of storm water inundation.
The namesake of this state park was a popular Pittsburgh Pirate right fielder who died in a 1972 plane crash en route to Nicaragua, seeking to deliver aid to the earthquake-stricken country. His body was never recovered.
The design of the parkresembles that of Riverbank State Park with its simple modernism and too much concrete. It was a time of economic belt-tightening. Initially named Harlem River State Park, it was renamed for Clemente a year after its opening as the city’s first state park.
After suffering damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, the state redesigned the park for resiliency. It its vision for the park, the firm Mathews Nielsen (MNLA)peeled back the wide waterfront concrete plaza, preserving the seawall and filling in the void with a constructed wetland.
The intertidal marsh’s appearance changes with the level of the water, lending a naturalistic touch to an otherwise active recreation park better known for its ball courts and Olympic size outdoor pool. Hunters Point South in Queens also has an intertidal marsh that mitigates storm surge damage and serves as a wildlife habitat. To the north of Roberto Clemente State Park, the train tracks come too close to the water’s edge to allow for public access. But one can imagine a walkway from here to Fordham Landing and then further north to the future course of the daylighted Tibbetts Brook.
Sergey Kadinsky is the author of Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs (2016, Countryman Press) and the webmaster of Hidden Waters Blog.
He is a licensed tour guide who paid his way through college atop the double-decker Gray Line buses.
Kadinsky is a contributor to Forgotten New York, a local history website. His articles on the city’s history appeared in New York Post, New York Daily News, and Queens Chronicle, among other publications.
Read more fascinating New York City history in Sergey Kadinsky’s book! (click to purchase)
