Bronx Rail Yards Could Become a $500M Mega-Development

Back in September, Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr. put forth a plan to transform an abandoned stretch of rail tracks in Mott Haven into a Lowline-style park. There hasn’t been much in the way of updates since then, but now Diaz is turning his sights to another set of tracks, this one much larger and in the northwest Bronx.

The Real Deal cites findings from the borough prez that claim the MTA’s Concourse Yards, a 19-acre open-air subway depot, could be decked over to yield two million square feet of development rights, resulting in a mega-project like Hudson Yards. At an estimated cost of $350-$500 million (Hudson Yards cost $800 million by comparison), the project would require no rezoning and would be “a real opportunity to not only provide much-needed homeownership, mixed-income housing and retail space, but to allow Lehman College to expand by better connecting it to the Bedford Park neighborhood and making it a true community campus,” according to Diaz’s report.

A previous attempt was made to deck over Concourse Yards back in the ’60s when the Bronx Community College wanted to construct a new campus. They broke ground in 1970, but construction stalled due to the financial crisis. Now, the plan is part of an overall resurgence in the Bronx. In 2014, developers invested $1.2 billion in the borough, a 26 percent increase over the previous year. “Smart planning for the future requires us to consider all options, including real estate that does not yet exist,” said Diaz.

[Via TRD]

RELATED:

• The Bronx May Get Its Own Lowline-Style Park at Abandoned Mott Haven Rail Tracks
• A New York Minute With Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
• Going Green and Curbing Gentrification: How the Bronx Is Doing It Differently