NYC Council approves East Bronx rezoning that will add 7,000 new homes
An illustration of the rezoning’s potential effects along Eastchester Road. Image courtesy of DCP.
The New York City Council on Thursday approved a major rezoning that will bring thousands of homes and $500 million in investments to the East Bronx. The Bronx Metro-North Station Area Plan targets 46 blocks around four new Metro-North stations planned for Co-op City, Hunts Point, Morris Park, and Parkchester/Van Nest. The rezoning, which includes over a million square feet of commercial space and retail space, and 10,000 new permanent jobs, is the first approved under Mayor Eric Adams.
The rezoning focuses on the area surrounding four new Metro-North stations, which are expected to be constructed by 2027. First announced in 2014 as part of the MTA’s Penn Station Access project, the rail stations are expected to reduce travel times from the Bronx to Manhattan by as much as 50 minutes.
The new stations will connect Penn Station to Metro-North’s New Haven Line, which currently runs through the four neighborhoods but doesn’t stop in the borough. Because of this, East Bronx residents are forced to rely on slower and less convenient modes of transportation like buses. The stations will also ease traffic congestion and lower carbon emissions by taking vehicles off the road.
Of the 7,000 new homes projected to be constructed under the rezoning, which allows for residential development in areas previously designated for commercial and manufacturing use, roughly 1,700 will be permanently income-restricted through Mandatory Inclusionary Housing.
The Bronx rezoning is the first approved under the Adams administration and is a key component of his “City of Yes” housing plan. Other proposed rezonings include plans in Long Island City and Midtown South.
“Today, the Bronx bought a ticket to the future, creating thousands of new jobs and affordable homes while embracing mass transit, all by saying ‘yes,’” Adams said. “The Bronx is saying ‘yes’ to more housing in our backyards, communities, and neighborhoods, and serving as a model to the rest of our city on how to lead from the front.”
Bronx Council Members Amanda Farías, Kristy Marmorato, Kevin Riley, and Rafael Salamanca Jr. secured nearly $500 million in capital investments from the Adams administration, according to the City Council.
The package includes $119 million for parks and open space improvements, $12 million for school upgrades, $170 million for sewer improvements, water line repairs, and flood protections, and $189 million for sidewalk and street enhancements.
Additional investments include $250,000 for a feasibility study for a pedestrian bridge over the Bronx River connecting Longwood and Soundview. Most of these improvements should be completed within the next five years.
Marmorato has also negotiated a parking mandate for new buildings in the rezoned area. This, along with the density restrictions near the upcoming Morris Park station, will result in 500 fewer apartments being built than originally proposed in the mayor’s plan.
Some developers had already acquired properties near the planned commuter rail stations in the years leading to the rezoning’s approval. This includes Pinnacle Group, which purchased several adjacent lots in Parkchester for $14.7 million in 2015, and has proposed a 500-unit apartment building on the site, according to the New York Times.
“Confronting our city’s housing and affordability crisis requires creating more homes for New Yorkers,” Speaker Adrienne Adams said. “The opening of new Metro-North stations in the East Bronx presents a unique opportunity to develop new housing and homeownership opportunities while delivering critical infrastructure investments that benefit surrounding neighborhoods for generations.”
Adams continued: “This historic neighborhood rezoning, coupled with nearly $500 million for local infrastructure improvements that the Council secured, will have a lasting positive impact for the residents of the Bronx and our entire city.”
Ground broke on the Metro-North expansion project in December 2022 but was delayed for months due to issues between the MTA and Amtrak, as the Bronx Times reported. The MTA said Amtrak failed to provide the access and resources promised.
In July 2023, MTA project executive Tom McGuinness announced the projected completion date had been pushed back from March 2027 to late 2027.
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less see how many units will be truly affordable, will this be a mirror of Brooklyn Atlantic yards which the majority of those units are market rate, condos, and the so called affordable high price units, which by the way the AMI will constantly rise before this development gets built