Crotona Park is another standard South Bronx neighborhood that filled up with 1st & 2nd generation immigrants in the early 20th century looking to escape the Manhattan slums, became predominately Black by the late 1960s and emptied out by the late 70s due to a wave of arsons and white flight. The neighborhood was uplifted like the rest of the Bronx by several determined local CDCs in the 1980s and 1990s. In Crotona Park East the main CDC player is the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes who helped created over 5,000 units of housing since their creation. One of the most iconic redevelopment sites is along Charlotte Street, which was a bombed out street visited by both President Carter and Regan. It was redeveloped in the late 80s as single family ranch style homes and is the only ranch housing in all of the South Bronx. To me it looks pretty odd stuck in the middle of this dense community. But these homes has certainly maintained their value as they now sell btwn 500K-800K.
Crotona Park East is very walkable like all other South Bronx neighborhoods thanks to its great subway access, bike in structure, density and good retail amenities. The neighborhood really excels with great park amenities and a solid tree canopy thanks to the expansive and multi-functional Cortona Park. But the neighborhood has less walkable retail than most South Bronx neighborhoods, is very limited with cultural amenities, and has some poor urban form in spots including the Charlotte Gardens, New Horizons Shopping Mall and gritter more industrial uses under both its elevated train lines running along Southern and Boston Avenues. For Crotona Park to become a top tier urban district it needs more income diversity and for sale housing which will improve the neighborhood’s retail and cultural amenities and fill in its more autocentric areas.
Click here to review my Crotona Park East Album on Flickr
URBAN STRENGTHS:
* Good sidewalks and 65% of curb cuts are ADA compliant
* Great public transit access. Crotona is served by 2 subway lines and tons of bus lines.
* A couple dedicated bike lanes but great array of dedicated bike stations
* Good access to Midtown, Long Island City and Lower Manhattan all about 45 mins by subway. Decent bike lane infrastructure but tons of dedicated bike stations.
* Great density at just over 60K per square mile.
* Lots of families with children. But not the best age diversity. Decent racial diversity with a larger African American population than most South Bronx neighborhoods. Still just over 50% Hispanic.
* More intact Historic stock than most South Bronx neighborhoods with a significant amount of rowhouses.
* Decent tree canopy. Better than most South Bronx districts.
* Excellent park amenities including the expansive and multi-functional Crotona Park East which has a public pool, the attractive riverfront park along the Bronx River and several small parks & playgrounds well dispersed throughout the neighborhood.
* Urban massing is generally good but some autocentric/industrial spots below the elevated rail along Boston & Southern Blvd and a large shopping center along E 174th.
* Lots of walkable schools but ratings are subpar even for South Bronx’s ratings. High Schools are particularly rated low. Only a handful of private and charter schools.
* Crotona Park East has a ton of rental inventory but most of it is not market rate (8:1 lease below 2K). A handful of market rate studios and 1-beds lease in the 2Ks. Some 2-beds for around 3K. A decent # of 3-beds that lease in the 3Ks.
* Decent retail amenities including several full sized groceries & drug stores, a couple furniture stores, a TJ Maxx & Rainbow, several consignment stores, tons of salons and barber shops, a hardware store, a couple banks, a couple gift stores, a couple bakeries & gyms, several discount stores, a couple churches & several doctors offices (but not hospitals). Less retail amenities than most South Bronx neighborhoods.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Some economic diversity but nearly 1/3 of the population is in poverty and large numbers or lower-moderate middle class.
* Infill in Crotona Park is a mixture of decent urban design urban rowhouses, suburban ranch homes in Charlotte Gardens, unattractive industrial bldgs below the elevated lines, and suburban strip malls. Modern urban in-fill projects are concentrated along West Farms Rd.
* Crime rates have significantly dropped since the 90s but still remain higher than Bronx and the City of New York overall. Crotona Park East still has a decent amount of blight but limited vacancy.
* Streetscaping is fine but generally pretty tired and outdated.
* Not a ton of for sale product. Very limited # of market rate studio and 1-bed condos. A few 2-beds that sell btwn 100K-400K. A lot more 3 bed product that sells anywhere from 300K-800K including a decent # of SF homes. Not much 4 bedroom product.
* Cultural amenities a limited to some restaurants (generally not high end) and cafes. Not much else honestly.
* Missing some key retail amenities including a post office & public library and very few local creative retail stores.
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 