Swan- Historic Working Class Polish Name on Grand Rapid’s Southwest Side

I included most of what is shown as the Swan neighborhood on google but cut out the southern and eastern edges that are mostly industrial space using Wealthy as a southern border and cutting up to Butterworth via an abandonded industrial road.

The name Swan referred to the Historic Native American chief John Wabasis, also known as “White Swan. Historically the neighborhood was just called Southwest Grand Rapids but it took the name Swan in the 1980s as the neighborhood took on more of an identity with the creation of a Neighborhood Development Organization. Similar to West Grand, Swan grew in the late 19th century thanks to the expansion of Grand Rapids Industrial might, especially the Furniture Industry. This particularly attracted large waves of Polish immigrants. They created a relatively walkable neighborhood with very convenient access to Downtown. In the Post War era, Swan experienced decline but not as extreme as South Grand Rapids and has mostly retained its urban fabric. Polish immigrants have increasingly been replaced by Hispanic immigrants and young professionals and families attracted by its convenient access to Dwtn and cheap housing prices.

This is a solid urban district but to become a premiere Grand Rapids neighborhood akin to Eastown or East Hills it needs more development which would drive better walkable amenities and retail options. Bridge is the best urban district with lots of quality urban in-fill and food & beverage amenities. Fulton has some urban form but could use a lot more quality urban in-fill. Architecture is generally modest turn of the century working class housing. One of Swan’s best amenities is its proximity to Dwtn located just across the river. Swan also hosts excellent waterfront parks and recreational trails.

Click here to view my Swan Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Most historic architecture is more working class housing from the late 19th century. Some more ornate older bldgs mixed-in near Bridge and Bridge itself has attractive historic commercial bldgs.
Good sidewalk infrastructure and about 70% of all intersections are up to ADA standards.
Decent amount of historic infill especially along Bridge, but parts of Fulton closer to the River and even new construction homes in the residential streets btwn Bridge and Fulton. More autocentric in-fill along Fulton.
Good urban massing along Bridge but more of a mixed bag along Fulton. The closer to Dwtn, the best the urban form.
Solid tree canopy for the most part.
Solid public transit especially closer to the River.
Very convenient access to Dwtn across all modes. One can walk to dwtn in 10-15 minutes in some parts of Swan.
Good array of dedicated bike lanes which connect well to dwtn and the waterfront recreational trails.
Excellent diversity metrics, especially economic.
So so school amenities with a couple Catholic Schools and public grade schools. Good ratings.
Solid park amenities especially with the extensive riverfront park and recreational trail. Also a couple small and medium parks, a YMCA, along with the Grand Rapids zoo just wet of the neighborhood.
Pretty good array of restaurants and bars, some cafes and bars, a couple breweries & live music venues, a couple museums along the lakefront, and convenient access to all the cultural amenities dwtn.
Pretty good rental options with 1-beds leasing btwn $900-1.3K, 2-beds btwn 1K-2.3K, 3-beds btwn 1.5-3K.
Nice array of for sale options with only a handful of 1-beds selling btwn 150K-250K, 2-beds btwn 150K-300K, 3 & 4 beds btwn 100K-400K. Plenty of affordable for sale options here.

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Density is below average for an urban district.
* Grand Valley State along the river however is very autocentric with large surface parking lots.
* Generally a safe neighborhood but some dodgy spots.
* So so retail amenities including a hardware store, a local butchery, a couple florists, a local bookstore, several salons and barbershops, a couple bakeries, a YMCA, a local public library. Also convenient access to the many retail amenities and boutiques in Dwtn.

West Grand- Historic Working Class neighborhood on Grand Rapids Westside

I included most of what is shown as the West Grand neighborhood on google but cut some of the park space on the western and northern edges and cut the northeast slice north of Ann St as its all industrial.

West Grand was developed in the late 19th early 20th century rooted in its role as a working-class neighborhood during the city’s booming furniture industry. It developed as a relatively walkable streetcar neighborhood welcoming several ethnic communities especially Polish, German, and Irish immigrants. Deindustrialization certainly negatively impacted the neighborhood but West Grand never hit bottom like other largely African American neighborhoods on the southside. In recent decades there has been a resurgence of interest in the neighborhood leading to a relatively stable housing market, decent retail and cultural amenities especially along its booming business district on Bridge but also along Leonard St, and Fourth & Stocking.

This is a solid urban district with good safety levels, decent amenities, attractive historic architecture, diverse and affordable housing but to become a premiere Grand Rapids neighborhood it needs much better density and more infill development along its commercial corridors and industrial areas (along the river and Seward Ave). Public transit is really only good in the southern and eastern part of the neighborhood and schools are a bit limited and generally not well rated.

Click here to view my West Grand album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalk infrastructure and about 80% of all intersections are up to ADA standards.
* Variety of historic residential architecture from the late 1800s all the way to 1950s ranch homes generally moving from southern to north but also east to west. Most architecture is more modest working class housing but generally pretty well maintained. Nicer historic commercial bldgs along Bridge and several impressive brick warehouse buildings along Steward and closer to the river.
* Urban form is pretty good especially along Bridge St and to a lesser extend Stocking Ave. Urban form along Leonard is more of a mixed bag but good urban form in stretches esp. btwn.
* Outside of the more industrial stretches, pretty solid tree canopy.
* Solid access to Dwtn with transit trips generally 15-20 mins away. Decent set of bike lanes with pretty good access to dwtn and the recreational trails along the river.
* Solid diversity metrics especially racial.
* Generally a pretty safe neighborhood but some grit in spots, especially the more industrial areas.
* Decent retail amenities including a couple smaller supermarkets, a hardware store, several pharmacies, a local butchery, and florists, a couple clothing stores & banks, several barbershops, a bakeries, a YMCA, a local public library & post office, a couple medical offices, and several churches.
* Decent cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants & bars, a brewery, a couple cafes, a couple places with live music, and a comedy club.
* Pretty good rental options with 1-beds leasing btwn $900-1.3K, 2-beds btwn 1K-1.7K, 3-beds btwn 1.5-2.5K.
* Nice array of for sale options with some 1-bed condos selling btwn 150K-300K, 2-beds btwn 100K-400K, 3 & 4 beds btwn 100K-450K. Plenty of affordable for sale options here.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Public transit is hit or miss and not great along the western and north edges of West Grand.
Missing some crucial urban retail including a local public library and post office and supermarket. Also very few clothing and boutiques.
Density is so so for an urban area.
Large amount of surface parking in the more industrial areas along the review and poor urban form. Urban form is hit or miss along Leonard St.

Eastown- Popular Urban Community in Grand Rapid’s Eastside

Eastown began as a streetcar commuter suburb in the early 20th century and was an important midway stop between downtown Grand Rapids and the resort area of Reeds Lake (now East Grand Rapids). The neighborhood filled in by the 1930s with a handsome array of larger single family homes catering to the professional middle class. However, the district was redlined in the mid-century and experienced several decades of disinvestment in the post war area. Fortunately the neighborhood began to attract creative and intellectual types in the 60s and 70s and was often referred to as the “Greenwich Village of Grand Rapids”. Eastown has fully stabilized and is one of the City’s most popular and neighborhoods and arguably holds its best urbanism thanks to its solid commercial districts running down Lake and Wealthy Streets.

For Eastown to be a premiere urban district it simply needs a density level of at least 15K to drive more retail and cultural amenities. This would require significant densification along its commercial corridors and relaxing its likely strict single family zoning laws. Eastown could also use better public transit access and more walkable schools.

Click here to view my Eastown album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid access to dwtn being only 2 miles away.
* Great sidewalk infrastructure and ADA curbs are up to date in most intersections.
* Very safe community with limited blight.
* Decent for sale diversity and price points but not 1-bed condos and only a handful of 2-beds that sell btwn 270K-340K. Plenty of 3 & 4 beds that sell anywhere btwn 200K-600K with a handful of mansions that sell for more.
* Decent inventory: 1-beds lease in the low-medium 1Ks but are pretty limited, more 2 & 3 beds that lease btwn 1.7-2.4Ks. Several 4 beds as well.
* Excellent tree canopy throughout.
*Overall a pretty safe community with limited blight
* Great array of larger historic homes from the 1890s-1930s. Some nice historic commercial but generally planer.
* Good park amenities starting with the multi-functional Wilcox Park and Acquinas College has gorgeous grounds & woods, sigsbee is also a nice park and MLK park has a pools and sits just south of Eastown.
* Only a handful of infill. Generally pretty good urban form.
* Solid cultural amenities especially restaurants, bars, cafes, a performing arts theater at Acquinas College, a couple live music venues, the Indie Wealthy Theater is only a block outside of Eastown, and lots of great cultural amenities in neighboring East Hills.
* Generally good urban form along the two major biz districts of Eastown (Lake & Wealthy) and the couple blocks along Robinson & Fulton. But a decent amount of small surface parking lots throughout.
* Good retail amenities including a drug store, some boutiques & clothing stores, a couple bookstores and home goods stores, several salons, a bike shop, several dessert joints, a couple of gyms, a local post office, several churches, and a major hospital just east of the neighborhood. Also walkable access to all the retail amenities in neighborhood East Hills.
* 3 dedicated bike lanes with decent connection to surrounding neighborhoods.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Schools are pretty limited to most private elementary schools. A public elementary school located within Eastown but not well rated.
Public transit is so so for an urban district.
Missing some key retail amenities including a neighborhood supermarket, public library, and local boutiques and gift shops are a bit limited.”

Baxter- A Historic African American Community in Grand Rapids Eastside on the Rise

The Baxter neighborhood was established in the late 1800s and named after Albert Baxter a notable historian and novelist from the late 19th century. The neighborhood was originally populated by Irish and German immigrants as Grand Rapids was rapidly expanding. By the 1960s Baxter had transitioned to a predominantly Black demographic and sadly faced redlining and segregation challenges, which accelerated disinvestment and blight in the neighborhood at a faster pace than its more white neighborhoods to the north (i.e. East Hills). The community responded with the creation of the Baxter Community Center in 1969 to address the neighborhood’s many social injustices and unmet needs. And by the 1980s the Baxter Neighborhood Association was established to help foster neighborhood improvements, local businesses, and community events like festivals and parties. Thanks to these efforts and retaining ethnic diversity, the Baxter community’s residential inventory remains mostly intact and the Wealthy St business corridor is now flourishing with many restaurants, bars, local businesses, and a thriving local historic theater. Eastern Ave has been slower to rebound but is seeing a plethora of new apartment bldgs with good urban infill. MLK St, the southern border, is still pretty blighted and desolate.

For Baxter to be a top tier urban district it’s first order of business is the redevelopment and densification of the Eastern and MLK business corridors. These corridors have the majority of the neighborhood’s blight and autocentric development. I would also like to see more walkable schools, better bike amenities, more rental options, and improvement on crime.

Click here to view my Baxter album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Solid urban density.
Solid ADA curbs with about 80% of curb cuts. Good Sidewalks
Very convenient access to Dwtn being only 2 miles away. Also a short 18 min bus ride.
One of Grand Rapids most diverse neighborhoods with a large Black and Hispanic population alongside a 45% White population. Poverty is high here (around 25%) but lots of medium and upper middle class households.
Higher pct of family households here.
Decent for sale options and pretty affordable. 2-beds selling btwn 150K-250K, 3 & 4 beds btwn 150K-400K.
Solid tree canopy but not as good as more affluent neighborhoods to the north.
One park centrally located in Baxter and two on its edges. MLK park is a decent size and contains a public pool.
Attractive historic homes throughout most of Baxter. Decent historic commercial especially along Wealthy.
Modern in-fill is getting better and better with lots of quality urban infill along Wealthy and more and more multi-family buildings popping up along Eastern. Eastern and MLK however have a decent amount of unattractive autocentric infill.
Quality urban massing along Wealthy. Hit or miss along Eastern but getting better. MLK’s urban form is generally unattractive thanks to blight and autocentric uses.
Decent cultural amenities including several restaurants, bars, & cafes, a brewery, a historic indie movie theater, and walkable access to the many night life and restaurants in East Hills and East Town.
Retail amenities within Baxter are decent but mostly limited to Wealthy Street. They include a gourmet grocery store, a butcher, decent # of boutiques & clothing stores, a couple home good stores, several salons, a couple churches, a medical clinic, a couple dessert joints, and the Baxter Community Center, which hosts lots of community services. Plenty of walkable retail amenities in neighboring East Hills and East town only a 10 min walk.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Only one dedicated bike lane and unfortunately it doesn’t take you Dwtn. Not bike sharing stations.
Decent but not great public transit access.
Limited walkable school options. No schools located within the neighborhood but a handful in adjacent neighborhoods. However only one is a school of significant size.
Rental inventory is pretty limited. What does exist is of pretty modest price.
The neighborhood was rough not too long ago but it has come a long way and blight is pretty limited now and crime is lower than it was. Blight is concentrated along MLK the southern edge of Baxter.

East Hills- A Great Urban Revitalization Story only 2 miles east of Downtown Grand Rapids

The majority of the East Hills neighborhood was built in the late 19th Century, when the area was made up of orchards and farms. During the late 1800s grand Rapids experienced a major population boom thanks to the effects of the industrial revolution and massive European immigration. Thanks to its convenient accessibility to Dwtn via the streetcar many of Grand Rapid’s new immigrant residents settled here. They helped build a thriving urban community with 4 business districts cutting through the East Hills community (Wealthy, Lake, Cherry, and Fulton). During the 1960’s East Hills lost its luster as many residents left for the suburbs and an increase in crime, blight and abandonment came to the area a common fate to so many American inner city neighborhoods in the Post War Era. Fortunately East Hills was able to retain most of its urban fabric thanks to the strong organization efforts of the East Hills Council Neighborhoods in the 80s & 90s. By the early 2000s the 4 business districts were welcoming a plethora of new shops , restaurants, bars, and coffee shops and the neighborhood has never looked back.

This is one of Grand Rapid’s best urban districts thanks to its 4 walkable business districts, good rental inventory, great tree canopy , comfortable sidewalks, and convenient access to dwtn being only 1.5 miles away. But for this to be a premier urban district on a national level it needs better bike access, better diversity, more walkable schools, and better park amenities.

Click here to view my East Hills Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Excellent sidewalk infrastructure with most ADA curbs being up to date.
Solid urban density at just under 10K people per square mile.
Very convenient access to Dwtn being only 1.5 miles away and a 10-15 minute transit ride.
Limited blight here and a pretty safe community.
Excellent historic architecture esp. the turn of the century homes but also good historic commercial buildings too.
Strong sense of place with several urban biz districts and distinctive buildings.
Decent for sale diversity and price points but not 1-bed condos. 2-beds sell btwn 200K-425K. 3 & 4 beds btwn 200K-600K with a handful of mansions that sell for more.
Good rental inventory especially . 1-beds lease in the low-medium 1Ks, 2-beds in the 1Ks. 3-beds lease btwn 1.8K-2.3K. A handful of 4 beds as well.
Great tree canopy throughout the district.
Some modern in-fill bldgs but what does exist is pretty good urban quality.
A handful of surface parking lots on the 4 urban biz districts (wealthy, Cherry, Lake, and Fulton) but overall urban form is very good in East Hills.
Some small groceries but no supermarkets here. Plenty of boutiques & clothing stores, several home goods stores, ton of salons & barber shops, a couple book stores, a toy store, plenty of dessert joints, a couple of gyms & churches.
Great array of restaurants, bars, and cafes, a handful of art galleries & nightclubs, an indie movie theater, and a couple bars host live music.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Some economic diversity but racial and generational diversity are pretty limited.
So so bike access to a couple segments of dedicated bike lanes. No bike sharing stations.
Only one school located within East Hills. At least it is a well rated public schools. A handful of somewhat walkable schools in the adjacent areas that are generally rated pretty well.
Only a handful of parks within East Hills that are pretty small. A couple walkable parks in adjacent neighborhoods.
Missing some key retail amenities including a local post office, public library or hospitals and only a handful of doctor’s offices.”

University Heights- Home to Bronx Community College and the Aqueduct Walk

The neighborhood takes its name from the hill on which New York University’s Bronx campus was built in 1894. The neighborhood, however, didn’t really fill in until 1917 with the opening of the IRT Jerome Avenue elevated Line. This lead to a rapid transition from a one-time farm community that had become a place where wealthy people had their mansions and suburban villas, to an urban neighborhood built almost entirely of low-rise apartment buildings housing mostly middle classes families. Like most of the South Bronx the neighborhood lost its middle class base in the 1970s with white flight and a rise in crime and arson but University Heights has stayed more intact than most South Bronx Communities and has decent income diversity.

In the present day University Heights is a stable working class/middle class neighborhood with limited blight and disinvestment. The neighborhood does not have the same level of shopping districts as other South Bronx community but does hosts several smaller urban business districts along Knightsbridge, Burnside, University Blvd and is located close to the western edge of the Fordham Center Shopping District. For University Heights to be a top tier urban community it needs more higher income households to foster more racial diversity and better cultural & retail amenities. The neighborhood also needs better bike infrastructure and could use to high quality urban in-fill in spots.

Click here to view my University Heights Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid urban density for NY at 65K people per square mile
* Solid sidewalks but ADA curb cuts exist on about 55% of all intersections.
* Excellent public transit access.
* Decent income diversity of South Bronx as poverty is 1/4 of the population and decent # of middle income households.
* Pretty good age diversity thanks to the student population.
* Good array of pretty well rated public walkable schools but no high schools in University Heights. A handful of Catholic and charter schools.
* One of the safest communities in South Bronx with limits blight as well.
* Historic architecture while not stunning is generally in tact.
* Solid tree canopy partially thanks to the hills.
* Solid park amenities but not as good as most South Bronx communities. Several good medium sized parks but University Heights is missing the plethora of smaller parks and playgrounds common in most South Bronx Communities.
* Several supermarkets & drug stores, a couple hardware stores, walkable access to all shopping options in Fordham Center just to the east of the neighborhood including tons of clothing stores, a target, and several small department stores, and boutiques. Other retail amenities in University Heights neighborhood include plenty of salons & barber shops, tons of dessert & bakeries, a public libraries, several churches, a VA hospitals and several medical centers and doctor’s offices.
* University Heights has a lot of rental inventory but most of it is not market rate (5:1 lease below 2K). It does have a decent amount of market rentals as well. Decent # of studios and 1-bed rentals leasing btwn 1.5K-2.5K. 2-beds lease btwn 2K-3K., a good # of 3-beds leasing btwn 2.8-3.8K.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Decent bike infrastructure but less bike sharing stations and bike lanes than most South Bronx neighborhoods.
* Access to Dwtn is worse than most South Bronx neighborhoods in University Heights. 45 mins to Midtown but an hour to Lower Manhattan.
* This is probably one the least diverse neighborhoods in the South Bronx with 65% Hispanic population.
* In-fill is limited to a handful of 1960s&1970s towers near Knightsbridge and the VA Hospital & Bronx Community College.
+ Other than large surface parking lots located outside of the VA Hospital and the Bronx Community College urban form is pretty good.
* So so cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants but only a handful of bars and cafes, and a salsa club.
* Missing some key retail amenities including a local post office, gyms, bookstores, and limited boutiques and gift shops outside of Fordham Center.
* For sale options are pretty limited but pretty affordable. Some 1 bed condos that sell in the 100K and 2-bed condos that sell btwn 150K-275Ks. Better 3 & 4 beds options selling btwn 300K-700K.

Fordham- A solid West Bronx Neighborhood home to the Fordham University and Fordham Center

There are also several subdistricts within this larger more commonly known Fordham neighborhood. Fordham Manor is the northern portion of this evaluation area cutting west all the way to the Harlem river. The area dates back to the mid 18th century when a large estate (Rose Hill) was constructed encompassing Fordham University. The most well known resident of the area was poet Edgar Allan Poe who spent his final years year. His cabin has been preserved with a nice park surrounding it. By the mid 19th century the estate was broken up and Fordham University emerged, starting as a seminary but eventually transforming into a Jesuit College. To the west of campus the Old Fordham Village slowly grew in the 19th century, accelerating its growth in the late 19th century as it was connected by rail into Manhattan. By 1900 the area was connected to the NYC subway system and thousands of 2nd & 3rd generation Irish and Jewish immigrants seeking to escape the slums of Lower Manhattan flooded in. The Old Fordham Village was transformed into a modern business district by the 1920s along the present day Fordham Rd, which remains a vibrant commercial district with many department and brand name clothing stores. By the 1970s the Irish and Jewish families left for the suburbs or the sunbelt and Black and Hispanic families replaced them. While the Fordham neighborhood was certainly negatively impacted by the fires and disinvestment of the South Bronx, it seemed to retain more of its historic fabric and eventually stabilized by the 1990s.The name Fordham Heights subdistrict is named after the more elevated terrain just south of Fordham Road. Further south along Burnside is the Mount Hope subdistrict named after the historic mansion.

From an urban perspective this is a very solid urban district with better amenities and lower crime than most South Bronx neighborhoods. There are many urban commercial districts in addition to Fordham Rd (i.e. 183th, Burnside, Grand Concourse, Jerome, Webster, Knightsbridge) helping to foster a highly walkable and mixed-used neighborhood. To become a top tier urban district Fordham needs more income diversity, which would foster better housing diversity, more retail and cultural amenities and hopefully fill in the many autocentric-industrial pockets with quality urban form.

Click here to view my Fordham Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* One of the densest neighborhoods in the Bronx at 100K per square mile. This density is on the same level as the denser Manhattan neighborhoods.
* Excellent Transit Access and solid access to Manhattan as it’s a 40 min subway ride to Midtown and 50-55 to Lower Manhattan.
* Great bike infrastructure including dense bike rental coverage and several north-south dedicated bike lanes. East to west lanes are limited though.
* Lots of urban biz districts including 183th, Burnside, Jerome, Fordham, Webster, Knightsbridge, Grand Concourse and plenty of commercial on residential corners.
* Great sidewalks and ADA standard curbs on about 70% of intersections. Brand new streetscaping along Grand Concourse.
* Solid historic architecture as much of it remains in tact. Mostly planer apartment buildings however.
* A Good number of walkable schools. Public schools are mixed ratings. More private schools than most Bronx neighborhoods.
* Fordham has a ton of rental inventory but most of it is not market rate (7:1 lease below 2K). It does have a good amount of market rentals as well. Decent # of studios and 1-bed rentals leasing btwn 1.5K-2.5K. 2-beds lease btwn 2K-3.5K. Some 4 beds that lease btwn 3K-4K.
* Decent tree canopy for a South Bronx neighborhood.
* Excellent pedestrian activity especially in the commercial districts, foremost with Fordham.
* Decent parks in Fordham but below average for South Bronx. A couple nice medium sized parks (i.e. St. James, Richman Park), a recreational center, the lengthy Aqueduct Park, and several smaller playgrounds and pocket parks.
* Plenty of supermarkets & drug stores, great shopping options on Fordham Center including tons of clothing stores, a target, and several small department stores, and boutiques. Other retail amenities in the Fordham neighborhood include plenty of salons & barber shops, tons of dessert & bakeries, a couple gyms, a couple post offices and public libraries, several churches, and while no hospitals there are plenty of medical centers and doctor’s offices.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Decent amount of autocentric/industrial uses along Webster and Jerome.
* Hispanic populations represent about 60% of Fordham. Also pretty high levels of poverty (~30%) but decent number of middle class households. Just limited higher income households.
* Certainly some crime in Fordham but pretty average for South Bronx.
* Really only a handful of urban infill buildings. A decent amount of autocentric infill bldgs along Webster and Jerome.
* Okay cultural amenities including a good array of restaurants & cafes, a handful of bars, a couple live music venues, convenient access to the performing arts center at Fordham University, a couple art galleries, the Edgar Allen Poe Cottage,
* For sale options are pretty limited. Some 1 bed condos that sell in the 100Ks & 200Ks. A handful of 2-bed condos that sell in the 400K & 500Ks. Better 3 & 4 beds options selling btwn 500K-800K.

West Farms- One of Bronx’s Original Railroad Suburbs but Present Day Dense South Bronx Community

West Farms was one of the first settlements in the Bronx located along an early rail line. By the mid 19th century it had 1000 resident and was developing into a railroad suburb like Yonkers. By the early 20th century West Farms was integrated into the rest of the South Bronx becoming a dense working class neighborhood for those looking to leave the slums of Lower Manhattan. By the 1970s it had one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in New York City. And like the rest of the South Bronx it experienced the destruction of the 1970s and resurrection in the 1980s and 1990s and is now mostly in-tact and rebuilt. West Farms however seems to have a slightly higher concentrated of poverty and Hispanics than other South Bronx neighborhoods and has seen limited recent revitalization. Its commercial district along Tremont is pretty gritty and somewhat abandonded and there are more vacant lots here than most parts of the South Bronx.

But West Farms has some great amenities starting with the expansive Bronx Park to the North and the Bronx Zoo, solid tree canopy and decent schools. It also has top notch transit access and decent retail amenities and is still walkable to larger centers of shopping in the Tremont and Crotona Park East neighborhoods. For West Farms to become a top notch urban district it needs more income diversity to drive better retail & cultural amenities and a more diverse housing market.

Click here to view my West Farms Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Excellent public transit served by two subway lines.
Solid density at 54K people per square mile and this includes some census blocks with limited populations.
Solid bike infrastructure including a couple dedicated bike lanes and several bike rental stations.
Good sidewalks and ADA standard curbs on 65% of intersections
Good Tree Canopy for the Bronx
Good access to Manhattan but not as good as other South Bronx neighborhoods. Midtown is 45 mins and Lower Manhattan and Long Island City are 50-55 minutes by subway.
Good connectivity in the core of the neighborhood but it gets pretty chopped up on the eastern edge.
Good urban form other than some industrial/autocentric spots on the eastern edge of the district.
Pretty good historic architecture on the western half of West Farms mixing 1920s brick apartment buildings and rowhouses. The eastern edge however is very gritty unattractive rowhouses. Generally Post WWII in fill is pretty urban form.
Decent number of schools within West Farm and to the west in the Tremont neighborhood but less options than most South Bronx district. Public schools are generally rated pretty well but limited private and charter schools.
Great access to park amenities thanks to the expansive Bronx Park which includes the Zoo, Botanical Garden, and lots of other amenities. Also a handful of small to medium parks spread throughout.
Decent retail amenities but more limited than most South Bronx neighborhoods due to it size a limited number of commercial district. Retail amenities include a couple full sized groceries & several drug stores and smaller groceries, a couple furniture stores, discount clothing stores and 99 center stores, several salons and barber shops, a handful of churches & several doctors offices (but not hospitals). Also a local post office and public library. Many other shopping amenities are still walkable in the neighboring Tremont and Crotona Park neighborhoods

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Crime is still higher here than NYC and the Bronx on average but significantly down from its peak in the 1990s. A decent # of vacant lots here, more so than other South Bronx Neighborhoods.
Generally not great diversity indicators as this is a 70% Hispanic neighborhood with nearly 40% of residents living in poverty. But better generational diversity than most South Bronx neighborhoods.
Streetscaping is fine but dated.
Not a ton of for sale product. Very limited # of market rate studio and 1-bed condos. Some 2-beds condos that sell btwn 150K-365K. 3 & 4 bedroom product is very limited. Some market rate 5-bed condos that sell for around 750K. Older townhouses sell for less but limited product.
West Farms has a ton of rental inventory but most of it is not market rate (7:1 lease below 2K). Very limited for sale rentals that are listed on traditional platforms like Zillow.
Decent cultural amenities including several restaurants, a handful of bars & cafes, a local art gallery and the Bronx Zoo is just north of the neighborhood.”

Crotona Park East- South Bronx Neighborhodo that is the Childhood Home of Bachata Singer Romeo Santos

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.

Longwood- Home to one of New York’s Largest Puerto Rican Populations and Successful South Bronx Revitalizaiton Story

Early in this construction boom, Longwood was one of the most dense and developed Bronx neighborhoods. For much of the first half of the 20th century, the Bronx was mostly home to a diverse mix of middle-class Caucasians and Jews. The neighborhood began experiencing disinvestment thanks to the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway in the 1950s displacing thousands of residents, white flight to the suburbs and new developers like Co-op City in the northeast Bronx, and the growth of poverty and blight from the South Bronx moving northwards in the 1960s and 70s. By the late 1970s, much of the neighborhood was destroyed due to fire or neglect. But thanks to the tireless efforts of Community Development Corporations, most notably Banana Kelly CIA, Inc. and SEBCO (South East Bronx Community Organization), vacant apartment buildings began to be renovated in the 1980s and new construction by the 1990s. Local, state, and federal government worked alongside the local CDCs to repopulate the neighborhood and Longwood now has limited vacancies. After the displacement of many African American families in the fires of the 1970s large waves of Dominicans and especially Puerto Ricans moved into the neighborhood making Longwood one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in New York City. Longwood managed to preserved the several blocks of late 19th century brownstones along several residential streets south of Longwood Avenue.

From an urban perspective Longwood is a solid urban district with plenty of strengths but still some major areas for improvement. It has great walkability thanks to several fairly vibrant biz districts (i.e. Longwood Ave, Prospect, Southern Blvd, and Westchester), great subway access, solid bike infrastructure, and convenience to Manhattan. Longwood also has lots of pretty well rated schools, good park amenities, and lots of walkable retail amenities. But for Longwood to become a top tier urban district in NYC it needs more racial and economic diversity, which will bring more cultural amenities and additional shopping options. Crime rates are improved from the 1990s but still much higher than the rest of NYC, and market rate rentals are pretty limited. Given Longwood’s significant number of protected affordable rentals, I’d be comfortable seeing more market rate housing and some gentrification as the benefits seem to outweigh the downsides.

Click here to view my Longwood album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Generally good sidewalk infrastructure but ADA curb cuts are hit or miss on less than half of all intersections.
Great density at 70K residents per square mile.
Great access to Manhattan being only 35 mins to Midtown and 45 min to Lower Manhattan by subway. Also only 45 mins to Long Island City in Queens as well.
Longwood’s connectivity is good but a bit chaotic for most New York City neighborhoods as the streets are often angled with an irregular grid.
A highly walkable neighborhood with 3 subway lines cutting through it, good bike lane infrastructure and tons of dedicated bike stations. Plenty of walkable biz districts as well along Prospect, Westchester/West Farms, Southern Blvd.
Lots of families with children. But not the best age diversity.
Good historic architecture in spots esp. the commercial districts of Prospect and the southern edge of Southern Blvd and the brownstones in the small Longwood Historic District. Otherwise architecture is a mix of working class rowhouses, plain 1920s apartment buildings and lots of in-fill from the late 80s to the present date with generally good urban form. Also lots of 1980s townhouses with parking out-front.
Solid park amenities with a nice mix of playgrounds, basketball courts, and medium sized well dispersed throughout Longwood. No spectacular parks here like St. Mary’s Park Crotona Park.
Lots of walkable school options but mixed ratings. Elementary and middle schools are generally rated average but public high schools are rated poorly unless its a charter high school. Only a handful of Catholic private schools.
Longwood has a ton of rental inventory but most of it is not market rate (15:1 lease below 2K). Few studios and 1-beds that are market rate. Some 2-beds that lease btwn 2K-2K. 3 beds lease btwn 3-4Ks.
Solid retail amenities including several full sized groceries & drug stores, some home good and furniture stores, plenty of clothing & boutiques stores esp. along Southern Blvd., a couple hardware stores, a couple gift stores, a several bakeries & gyms, a local post office & public library, tons of discount stores, several churches & doctors offices (but not hospitals), plenty of salons & barber shops”

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* A mostly Hispanic neighborhood with a sizable Black population.
* Some economic diversity but nearly 1/3 of the population is in poverty and large numbers or lower-moderate middle class.
* Crime rates have significantly dropped since the 90s but still remain higher than Bronx and the City of New York overall. Longwood has a similar amount of blight to Mott Haven but vacancy is pretty limited.
* Fair amount of autocentric/industrial spots especially along parts of Southern Ave & Westchester (both host elevated subways), and the southern half of Southern Blvd.
* Generally sidewalks are plenty wide but just gritty and warn down with few recent streetscaping projects.
* Not a ton of for sale product. A handful of 1-bed conds that sell around 175K. More 2-beds that sell btwn 175K-400K. Some 3-bed townhouses (musty from the 60s that sell btwn 500K-600K. Some 3 bed condos that sell around 150K. More 5 beds that sell btwn 500K-800K.
* Cultural amenities are limited to several restaurants and a couple bars and cafes. Not much else.