Take a walk around New York and it may seem like new residential developments are popping up everywhere you look. But out of all five boroughs, the Bronx is home to the most New York City neighborhoods with the highest amount of approved residential units, according to a new report.
In a report out Monday, Localize.city, a website that displays neighborhood data for addresses all around New York, took a look at which New York City neighborhoods have been catching the eyes of building developers.
The analysis looks at which neighborhoods are expected to see an increase in the number of apartments set to open in 2021 and beyond.
The No. 1 neighborhood in terms of approved residential units was in Queens: Long Island City landed in the top spot with 1,436 approved residential units within the past 12 months. But out of the 20 New York City neighborhoods on the list, seven are in the Bronx — more than any other borough. (Six are in Brooklyn, five in Manhattan, and two in Queens.)
“The Bronx is rising,” said Israel Schwartz, Localize.city data scientist, in a statement. “Overall, neighborhoods in the Bronx are seeing a greater share of large-scale development than in previous years.”
For the report, Localize.city data scientists looked at “tens of thousands of building applications” for new residential buildings with four or more units from the NYC Department of Buildings database between Jan. 1, 2010 to July 1, 2018.
Many of these New York City neighborhoods likely to see an increase in residential units have zoning laws that allow for greater density, the site explains, as well as incentives to build affordable housing units.
In Melrose, for example, which came in at No. 3 on the overall list, the La Central development is set to bring nearly 1,000 residential units, a YMCA and a rooftop farm. Mott Havel (sixth on the list) was rezoned in 2009 to accomodate more residential uses and has a large waterfront development in the works.
A rendering of the La Central development, which will bring hundreds of affordable housing units to the Bronx. Credit: FXCollaborative
This construction spurt will also bring taller buildings to the Bronx, per the report.
“Roughly 20 percent of the authorized buildings in the Bronx over the past 2.5 years are 10 stories high or more,” Schwartz said. “During the same time frame, only about 10 percent of the approved buildings in Queens were 10 or more stories, and in Brooklyn, only 3 percent were.”
New York City neighborhoods with the most approved residential units in the past 12 months
Long Island City: 1,436
East New York: 1,200
Melrose: 1,027
Bed-Stuy: 848
Financial District: 813
Mott Haven: 733
East Harlem: 732
Crotona Park East: 731
East Tremont: 705
Williamsburg: 677
Bushwick: 606
Longwood: 560
Lower East Side: 541
Bedford Park: 470
Flushing: 454
Coney Island: 452
Crown Heights: 428
Tremont: 417
Central Harlem: 414
Hudson Square: 402
