A three-tower mixed-use affordable housing project bringing 970 units to the Bronx River waterfront received overwhelming support from Community Board 9 on Thursday.
But the proposal, slated for 1460-1480 Sheridan Blvd. in the Claremont neighborhood, didn’t come without pushback from residents and environmental groups, who expressed concerns over the affordability of the units and the impact on nearby Starlight Park and the accompanying waterfront.
Simone Development, who has owned the 1460-1480 Sheridan Blvd. site — formerly an auto shop — for nearly four decades, touts the project as 100% affordable and an opportunity to add to an area that’s seen massive transformation since the Sheridan Expressway’s metamorphosis into Sheridan Boulevard in 2019.
The redesign that changed the busy Sheridan into a pedestrian-friendly boulevard linked the neighborhoods Crotona Park, West Farms and Soundview, with foot and bike trails that lead into Starlight Park and the Bronx River Greenway. Developers at the meeting vowed to maintain public access to the waterfront — an inequity for some Bronxites.
Fewer than half of Bronx residents within a half-mile can access their waterfronts, according to a 2022 report by the city Department of City Planning.
Project plans call for a 24-story tower with 304 units at 1460 Sheridan Blvd., two other 24-story towers with 666 units at 1480 Sheridan Blvd., and 139,300 square feet of commercial space. Developers are seeking a zoning change from the plot’s manufacturing zoning to a residential zoning with a commercial overlay.
“This is a labor of love … We have been so inspired by what’s gone up … around us over the past forty years, with the Sheridan Expressway becoming a boulevard, and all the (surrounding) development,” said Patricia Simone, principal and president of Simone Development Companies. “We’re so excited about the opportunity to open up the waterfront to transform what’s really underutilized ……
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