Parts of Mott Haven in the South Bronx have been transformed over the last few years.

Thousands of new apartments in luxury towers with all the amenities are now in what was once a mainly industrial area of the community.  

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Parts of Mott Haven in the South Bronx have been transformed over the last few years

Thousands of new apartments in luxury towers with all the amenities are now in what was once a mainly industrial area of the community

According to the city’s Smal Business Services and Live XYZ, Mott Haven and Port Morris neighborhoods had 1,136 ground-floor storefronts in February of this year with 124 vacancies

“You’re right on the waterfront. You could walk across the bridge and you are in Manhattan,” Columbia University Professor Rob Walsh said.

Walsh is the former president of the Bronx Economic Development Corporation and a former commissioner for the city’s Small Business Services, also known as SBS.

Although this has become a residential hot-spot in the last five years, Walsh said he is baffled by a few issues. He said the property owners and the city have allowed the streets around Third Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard to remain dirty despite billions of dollars invested in housing.

“I think this is really embarrassing, quite frankly, you know, we do have a sanitation department,” he said. 

The Department of Sanitation told NY1 property owners are responsible for sidewalks and 18 inches into the street, but the biggest problem is drivers not complying with alternate side parking regulations and not moving their vehicles for street sweeping.

A spokesperson for the department said drivers are condemning their own block to a dirty street. 

Another issue, Walsh said, he believes the massive Bankside buildings must secure retailers for their empty commercial spaces in order to keep attracting more residents. 

“If someone gave me the magic wand, I would say on many of these empty spaces on the ground floor, give it away or have a huge discount to bring in bagel shops, to bring in cleaners, to bring in coffee shops, to bring in essential services,” Walsh explained. 

This month, BX Eatery opened in one of those spaces, offering a full-service cafe, bar and workspace amenities.  

There are some establishments already in the community, a couple of blocks away, holding on for an economic boom.  

A shop called 787 Coffee has some prices running more the ten bucks for a large cup. 

“Every day I’ll get somebody, ‘Oh, I just moved [into] the neighborhood. I’m glad there’s a coffee shop here,’” shop manager Cristian Diaz said.

According to SBS and Live XYZ, Mott Haven and Port Morris neighborhoods had 1,136 ground-floor storefronts in February of this year with 124 vacancies. That’s about an 11% vacancy rate.

But in the immediate area around the luxury towers, there are 28 storefronts with six vacancies.

That’s a 21% vacancy rate, which is nearly double that of the neighborhood

Michael Brady is an urban planner and has lived in the Mott Haven community for more than 20 years. He’s also a local bar owner. 

He said the ongoing development is a shot in the arm for the South Bronx so far. 

“Primarily, it took industrial land, which no one was living in, and it activated it. And there’s a lot of disagreement over affordability for whom and how that pans out,” Brady said. “But at the end of the day, it took vacant properties or industrial property and turn-keyed it and activated residential housing with some ground-floor commercial.” 

The luxury housing is 70% market-rate rent and 30% affordable housing. 

“Look at the neighborhood. It’s booming,” Jarrod Whitaker, the senior vice president of RXR Realty, said. “There [are] several other residential projects.”

He is part of the operations team for Maven, one of the luxury properties.

“You’re seeing a real transformation in a positive way [in] Mott Haven,” Whitaker said.

He also said they are open to all suggestions for improvement in the community and that the sky is the limit for them.