The gentrification and luxury takeover of the South Bronx waterfront

Third at Bankside, the Bronx’s most expensive private development in history coming in at just under a billion at $950 million, will begin leasing this November with the first move-ins expected this December at the first phase of the development.

Located at the foot of the Third Avenue Bridge at 2401 Third Avenue, the development, once completed, will have 1,350 luxury units along the South Bronx’s Harlem River waterfront spread across seven high rises with several reaching 25 stories.

Third at Bankside will join nearby luxury development, The Arches, which is just a few feet away and is already filling up with new residents.

The first phase at Third at Bankside will include 450 luxury residential units across two 25-story buildings and one 17-story building filled with amenities you’d expect at such development like valet parking, round-the-clock door attendant, co-working sky lounge, resident lounges, rooftop pool and barbecue deck, outdoor terraces, game room, playroom, fitness center, and a double-height lobby.

As part of the development, 34,000 square feet of public space will be developed to provide waterfront access to all Bronx residents and not just the future tenants of the development.

The site was originally owned by the Chetrit Group and Somerset Partners who sold the development site back in 2018 for $165 million in the most expensive transaction for a development site in the borough’s history.

Although plans have been made to set aside 30% of the units for affordable housing, the developer will more than likely select them to be available to those making 130% of the area median income which will make them out of reach for the average South Bronx resident living in the surrounding Port Morris and Mott Haven neighborhoods.

Once this particular development is completed, it will undoubtedly usher in a new wave of gentrification in the area beyond the trickle that has been happening in the past decade and will bring thousands of residents into an area that was once seen as undesirable by those outside The Bronx.

And this is just one of such developments planned or under construction that will bring in thousands of more units which will undoubtedly change the character of the neighborhood. One just needs to look over at Harlem to see what happened to an area that was once predominantly Black and BIPOC working-class neighborhood which lost 10,085 Black residents and 2,015 Latino residents while gaining 18,754 more affluent white residents.

This is the future of the South Bronx and it’s only a matter of time before it’s no longer the poorest congressional district in the nation nor a haven for the immigrant communities that helped build it.