Another industrial wasteland along the Harlem River waterfront in the Bronx is on its way to a face-lift.
The $3.5 billion mixed-use Fordham Landing project is planned to rise between the Harlem River and the Major Deegan Expressway.
Developer Dynamic Star, founded by Gary Segal and Brad Zackson, is discussing the 5 million square feet of plans with the Department of City Planning and still needs to go through regular uniform land use approvals.
Along with housing and commercial space, major improvements for the adjacent University Heights Metro-North station and a new elementary school have long been discussed by the city, state and community.
Straddling Fordham Road and the University Heights Bridge, it would include pedestrian and other links to the neighborhood.
Architects NADAAA and Perkins Eastman are planning the project along with Margie Ruddick Landscape, which will focus on the 12.5 acres of open spaces, esplanades and playing fields and waterside uses like kayaking.
Andy Gerringer of the Marketing Directors is advising on the residential leasing and layouts of nearly 2,800 units with 30% of them affordable and intended to be built under the 70/30 scheme.
But to support the project financially, the northern piece will feature a roughly 700,000-square-foot Life Science Center and offices. There will also be retail, a hotel, conference center and community spaces.
John Reinertsen of CBRE has been tapped to lease the offices, along with the CBRE Life Science team led by Steve Purpura.
Winick Realty Group’s Jeff Winick is overseeing the retail and is working on the design of an e-sports stadium by ITEC Entertainment that would include a virtual level for watching global sports.
The northern end of the site runs to roughly 193rd Street, where it abuts a Target shopping center.
In between, a dilapidated cove would be turned into tidal gardens and wetlands, with an urban beach, a boathouse and playing fields.
The former Lasala family site on the south side of the bridge at 320 W. Fordham Road was purchased earlier this year for $31.5 million, while other sites are tied up or being negotiated. The current cement plant will also provide that product for construction.
Segal, a veteran union electrical contractor who sold his company in 2011 and made the move to residential development, vows to build the project in phases, using all union labor — almost unheard of in the Bronx.
“Being a third-generation union contractor, in my opinion, unions build better, build quicker and build safer,” he said. A project labor agreement (PLA) will need to be worked out, however, to ensure the pricing meets the confines of Bronx pocketbooks.
Segal developed several apartment buildings in Long Island City along with Zackson, the company’s head of development. At that time, Penny Lee was assigned to that area by City Planning. After she retired in 2017 and moved south, Segal lured her back with an opportunity to master plan the 1.2 miles of Bronx shoreline.
“The University Heights neighborhood has nice resources, architecture and wonderful parks,” Lee noted.
The new K-5 school south of the bridge will be adjacent to ball fields and a new soccer field planned at Roberto Clemente State Park. The entire project will connect along a new waterfront esplanade with walking and bike paths and have public Wi-Fi.
