The South Bronx gets a new skyline as the first towers of Brookfield's Bankside tops out

By CityRealty Staff | From Future New York Friday, October 23, 2020

All Bankside renderings via Hill West and by ArX Solutions

Having made their mark on the city with sweeping master plans overlooking the East and Hudson Rivers (think World Financial Center/Brookfield Place and Greenpoint Landing), Brookfield Properties has turned their attention to the Harlem River with Bankside, a 1,350-unit development in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx. Straddling the murky waterfront, the seven-tower plan will rise on either side of the Third Avenue Bridge at 2401 Third Avenue and 101 Lincoln Avenue. Brookfield purchased the waterfront parcels from The Chetrit Group for $165 million in September 2018, and construction on both lots are now well underway.

2401 Third Avenue is left of the Third Avenue Bridge and 101 Lincoln is to the right. There will be seven towers and 1,350 units in all

The tower designs have been value engineered a bit from the original vision

Facade detail

Since breaking ground in fall 2019, Brookfield has quickly ramped up construction setting the foundations for 101 Lincoln while erecting three high-rises simultaneously at 2401 Third. The first phase is anticipated to open in late 2021, and a registration-information site for prospective tenants and residents is already live.

The necklace of towers is being designed by Hill West Architects and their facades and differentiated scales pay homage to the area’s industrial past. Expanses of glass will be juxtaposed with sections of brick, rusticated masonry, raw concrete, and dark metal elements.

The full master plan is pegged to cost nearly $1 billion. Benefitting from a tax break from the state’s Affordable New York program, thirty percent of all units will be “income-targeted,” or rented at below-market rents. The project will also bring the community 34,000 square feet of public waterfront parkland, 15,000 square feet of retail, 598 parking spaces, and a tech-oriented community center run by Project Destined. Furthermore, the ambitious plan is incorporating some sustainability features and is aiming for LEED certification. Its location is not far from the 4/5/6 trains and is at the foot of the Third Avenue and Willis Avenue Bridges that connects pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicular traffic to Manhattan.

2401 Third Avenue. The 25-story and 17-story towers on the left have topped out

2401 Third Avenue as of mid-October 2020

The L-shaped 2401 Third Avenue lot will accommodate three towers: 25 stories, 17 stories, and 25 stories that share an eight-story podium. This first phase will introduce 450 rental apartments and is anticipated to wrap up by the end of 2021. A recent visit shows that the first two towers have topped out with the third overlooking the bridge not far behind.

The four towers of the 101 Lincoln Avenue parcel

101 Lincoln Avenue rendering

101 Lincoln Avenue as of mid-October 2020 (CityRealty)

The larger 133,000-square-foot lot at 101 Lincoln Avenue has 518 feet of frontage on the Harlem River and 333 feet along Bruckner Boulevard. Site preparation work is now in full swing. The four towers, reaching a maximum height of 250 feet, will host approximately 900 apartments. This section of the plan, which replaced an Oz Moving warehouse and an 83,000-square-foot open yard. is better connected to Mott Haven's street life and will likely hold a bulk of the project's 15,000 square feet of retail and community facility space.

Bankside's 2401 Third Avenue and the Arches from East Harlem

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The Major Deegan and the new Mott Haven skyline

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Bankside is one of many developments coming together along the South Bronx waterfront. In August, leasing kicked off for the two-towered rental called The Arches. Available apartments are quite a steal for a full-service building in NYC with studios priced from $1,971/month. Further up the Harlem River, a Bloomberg-led rezoning of the waterfront will spawn a flotilla of high-rises that may give Harlem residents something to gaze at. So far, the tallest announced for this new Bronx skyline is a 43-story mixed-use tower planned at 355 Exterior Street. Spearheaded by the Lightstone Group, the tower will rise 400 feet tall and house 700 apartments.

Just north of the 145th Street bridge, across from the underwhelming Bronx Terminal Market, preparations are being made for Bronx Point, a mixed-use development to feature 540 new housing units and the Universal Hip Hop Museum. Further inland a half-dozen smaller projects are in construction. Tallest of them all is an affordable Passive House project at 425 Grand Concourse that is now half-way up. Stay tuned for a Mott Haven construction rundown in the coming weeks.