We first broke the news last year of the first new construction market-rate luxury condominium coming to the South Bronx at 221 E 138th Street and now they have finally put out the welcome mat announcing the development as “The Joinery Condominiums” and that they’re “Making The Bronx Great Again.”
What?!
Newsflash: The Bronx is already great and we don’t need gentrifying developers approval or interest in our borough for us to know that.
Adding more insult to injury, the website touts, “Over the past several years, the neighborhood residents have witnessed the beginning of the gentrification of this area.” as if this is a selling point they should be proud of. They actually legit used the word gentrification.
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According to the sales office, they have already released 5 of the units to the market of which 3 are already in contract. These units were sold to individuals who had been calling for months since construction began so they created a waiting list and began working from there.
Two units currently available are 1 bedroom units. The first is #201, a 579 square foot unit for $373,455 and the second is #507, a 655 square foot unit for $432,850.
This averages out to $650 a square foot for these units which the developer’s office said the first 5 units all averaged out to including the 3 currently in contract.
For the next phase of sales they are planning to offer them at $750 a square foot and both offerings are significantly lower than the average list price of $1,100 for condos in neighboring East Harlem which is literally just blocks away over the Madison Avenue Bridge (and Third and Willis Avenue Bridges for that matter).
This would place some of the remaining units like a 1,300 square foot 2 bedroom apartment on the top 7th floor at a whopping $975,000.
Other than Bronx Bricks which was a condo loft conversion, this is the first time that luxury market-rate condos are being constructed and sold in The South Bronx.
People will argue that this isn’t gentrification because there was “nothing” on this site before and it isn’t displacing people but that’s not the full story of what gentrification is. When luxury housing is built, it has a ripple effect in the neighborhood and landlords begin raising their rents both commercial and residential forcing long time resident out.
Residents who rebuilt this neighborhood and stabilized it when no one wanted it.
This is yet another nail on the coffin that will swallow up The Bronx.
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