Like most South Bronx neighborhoods east Tremont became a destination for recently settled immigrant groups looking to escape the crowed Lower East Side slums in the mid to late 19th century. This first started with mostly German immigrants in the mid 19th century followed by the Irish a bit later and Italians by the end of the century who spilled over from Bronx’s Little Italy in nearby Belmont. The neighborhood also saw a fair amount of Jewish immigrants in the turn of the 20th century. East Tremont was negatively impacted by the construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway in the 1960s which displaced thousands of residents and inflicted a scar in the neighborhood. This was followed up in the next decade by widespread arson, disinvestment, and White Flight.

Yet East Tremont seems to retain more of its historic stock than most Bronx neighborhoods and has a really intact commercial district running along Tremont Street. Perhaps this is the result of the neighborhood being adjacent to the more stable Belmont District? Regardless, East Tremont like most South Bronx neighborhoods has stabilized and has limited vacancy. Interesting it has signs of both continued issues of poverty and crime (likely higher than most South Bronx neighborhoods) yet also has a much strong housing market with a great diversity of for sale options from affordable smaller condos to larger single family homes selling between 500K-1M. For East Tremont to become a top tier New York neighborhood it needs more income diversity which would foster better retail amenities and much better cultural amenities, which are lacking. Also some spots for better urban in-fill along the more autocentric and industrial corridors of E 180th, Washington Ave, and 3rd Avenue.

Click here to view my East Tremont Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid Bronx Density at 60K residents per square mile.
* Good sidewalk infrastructure and ADA curbs are on about 55% of all intersections.
* Pretty good bike lanes and several dedicated bike stations.
* Great public transit access along with some express routes to midtown that takes about 30 mins. Access to lower Manhattan and Long Island City is ok at 50 minutes by train.
* Good connectivity especially for most Bronx neighborhoods.
* 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.
* Crotona Park East has a ton of rental inventory but most of it is not market rate (9:1 lease below 2K). A decent # of studios and 1-bed rentals leasing btwn 1.8K-2.5K. Some 2-beds lease btwn 2.5K-3K. Lots of # of 3-beds that lease btwn 3K-4K.
* Decent for sale product for a Bronx neighborhood. Some 1-bed condos that sell around 100K, more 2-bed condo options that sell btwn 100K-350K and a handful of SF homes that sell around 500K. Of  3 & 4 beds variety selling anywhere from 170K-1 M including condos, townhouses, attached and detached SF homes.
* Good school options including plenty of public schools that are generally rated btwn 3-6 (out of ten) across all grades. Only a handful of charter and private school options.
* Pretty good historic architecture still in tact.
* Generally good urban massing especially along the in-tact urban biz district along E Tremont.  Streetscaping is generally pretty good, esp. for the Bronx.
* Great pedestrian traffic especially thanks the East Tremont Street.
* Good park amenities including the medium sized Walter Gladwin Park, a public pool, and several smaller parks, and the expansive Bronx Park is just north of the neighborhood.
* Great retail amenities including several groceries & several drug stores, several furniture and home good stores, a couple hardware stores, tons of clothing stores and 99 center stores, several salons and barber shops, plenty of dessert & bakeries, a handful of churches & several doctors offices (but not hospitals). Also a local post office and public library and the plethora and retail and restaurant amenities of Belmont is a 5-10 minute walk to the north.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• While crime is better than it was in the 90s East Tremont has some of the higher crime rates in NY. Definitively some grid here but vacancy isn’t terrible.
• Some economic diversity but nearly 1/3 of the population is in poverty and large numbers or lower-moderate middle class.
• Tree canopy isn’t great.
• Some good large in-fill apartments but also plenty of autocentric and industrial in-fill.
• Some cultural amenities but limited to several restaurants, a handful of bars and night clubs and decent access to the Bronx Zoo.”