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As Brooklyn neighborhoods grow more expensive and the city’s affordability frontier shifts to the Bronx, Bedford Park, in the north-central section of the borough, could become prime territory, being both stable and financially within reach.
Adjoining the Mosholu Parkway along the northeast, the New York Botanical Garden to the southeast and the Jerome Park Reservoir to the west, the somewhat arrowhead-shaped half square mile of Bedford Park has attributes that New Yorkers love — good public transportation, parks and interesting housing stock — while flying low on the larger real estate radar.
Brokers see its prominence increasing as more buyers are priced out elsewhere. “People are discovering it,” said Oscar Cabrera of Keller Williams Real Estate, describing the area as one of several in the Bronx he considers “the last bastions of affordability in New York City.”
Daniel Sasse, an agent with Veritas Property Management, had similar observations. At open houses for co-ops in Bedford Park, he said, he sees mostly people from other boroughs — Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. “They’re saying, ‘It’s the only place I can afford to buy.’ ”
The richest category of housing is the well-priced co-op in an Art Deco building along the northernmost stretch of the Grand Concourse. The area’s few single-family homes rarely hit the market, but they date to its late 19th-century origins as a parklike suburb.
One such home, built in 1903 with seven bedrooms and three baths, was recently available. Mr. Cabrera, who handled the sale, said the property, listed at $375,000, exemplified the value that the neighborhood offers. A comparable property in some parts of Brooklyn might command as much as $900,000, he said.
The listing also reflected the area’s stability, having been inhabited since the early 1980s by a family now returning to Colombia. A neighborhood family that wanted a larger home is in contract to buy it, at close to asking price, he said.
“Bedford Park has always maintained itself and has a pretty good name,” Mr. Cabrera said. “You can raise a family there and not see dilapidated houses.”
The 2010 census, grouping Bedford Park with North Fordham, shows that of nearly 55,000 residents, 68 percent are Hispanic, 18 percent black or African-American, 6.7 percent white and 5 percent Asian. There are a few commercial strips, but none with the bustle of shopping areas like the one a few blocks south on East Fordham Road. Shops and restaurants are in small pockets — one near Bedford Park Boulevard and Webster Avenue, another at Bedford Park Boulevard and Jerome Avenue, a third along East 198th Street.
Businesses reflect the diverse population. An African market on Bedford Park Boulevard flanks restaurants with Dominican, Mexican and Chinese menus.
A few Korean shops and restaurants can be found along East 204th Street near Valentine Avenue. Kay Lee, who has owned a Kumon tutoring center at that intersection for 15 years, described the Korean community as smaller now than 10 years ago and said she was seeing more South Asian and Albanian families moving in.
One complaint you’ll hear in the area: On-street parking can be hard to find.
Inventory is dominated by one-bedroom co-ops in buildings along the Grand Concourse and on streets that slope down to Webster Avenue. Two- and three-bedrooms are scarce and in demand.
Browse the online listings for co-ops in Bedford Park and you’ll see apartments with architectural accents like rounded doorways and sunken living rooms. Some, in buildings facing the Mosholu, have views of the greenery that lines the parkway.
Mr. Sasse says most of his buyers are couples in their 20s and 30s who hope to start a family or who have a young child. What Bedford Park offers them is the Junior 4s, a one-bedroom with a dining room that can be converted into a small second bedroom.
Rentals are also a big part of the market. The Tracey Towers on Mosholu Parkway, a pair of hulking high-rises built in the 1970s under the Mitchell-Lama housing program, are icons in Bedford Park. Designed by the architect Paul Rudolph, the buildings are distinctive for their curved lines and concrete construction.
Jean Hill, the president of the Tracey Towers Tenant Association, said a major renovation was underway, both in public areas and within apartments, which are rented at subsidized rates. Ms. Hill said the complex remained a safe, community-oriented place to raise a family, just as it was when she moved there in the mid-1970s.
Like the neighborhood around them, the towers have undergone demographic shifts. “It’s always been mixed, African-Americans, Europeans, Hispanics,” Ms. Hill said. “Now we have a large Ghanaian population.”
According to Mr. Sasse, one-bedroom co-ops range in price from $100,000 to $150,000, depending on the extent of renovations, with the median around $119,000. Two-bedroom co-ops, when available, usually start around $149,000.
Studios often start around $90,000. Mr. Sasse says some can be had at lower prices if deals are all cash or are part of a pre-foreclosure process.
Single-family homes run mainly between $300,000 and $400,000, according to a review of listings on Zillow.com — which recently showed 71 listings, including co-ops and condos.
Prices have not recovered fully from the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008. Mr. Sasse cited one listing, a one-bedroom “bought at height of market” for $119,000 as having been relisted at $112,000 “and we might still have to come down a bit, so prices are not back at pre-recession level yet.”
The Commute
The neighborhood is well served by the subway system. Two lines run through Bedford Park — the B and D trains along the Grand Concourse and the 4 train along Jerome Avenue. A trip to Grand Central Terminal on the 4 from the Bedford Park Boulevard stop takes 35 to 40 minutes.
The neighborhood also has access to the Metro-North Railroad. The New York Botanical Garden stop falls within its boundaries; a trip to Grand Central from there takes 22 minutes, according to an online schedule.
What to Do
The botanical garden lies at the easternmost border and puts residents of Bedford Park within walking distance of one of the city’s most beautiful green spaces as well as its seasonal programs and special exhibits.
More parkland is accessible along the Moshulu Parkway, where residents can walk their dogs, jog or find a quiet spot on a park bench. The Bronx Zoo is a short bus ride away. For cultural events, Bedford Park isn’t far from the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, on the campus of Lehman College. Among the acts scheduled to perform this month were the Soweto Gospel Choir and the Haifa Symphony Orchestra.
Just southwest of the area, the morphing of the Kingsbridge Armory into a national ice skating center by 2017 is being anticipated as a big lure, brokers said.
The Schools
The neighborhood is rich with educational institutions. There are two top public high schools — the Bronx High School of Science, with about 3,000 students, and the High School for American Studies at Lehman College, with 700. Admission is determined by test, and students come from all over the city.
According to the Department of Education, Bronx Science SAT averages in 2012 were 632 in reading, 688 in math and 649 in writing, versus 434, 461 and 430 citywide that year. Lehman’s were 636, 648 and 636.
The main public elementary school, No. 8, which runs through Grade 5, got an A on its most recent progress report.
The History
Since 2009, Bedford Park has had a historic district on Perry Avenue: a distinctive group of Queen Anne-style rowhouses. Completed in 1912 at a cost of $6,500 per home, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the nine buildings are all elevated on fieldstone walls that enclose small front yards.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/re...s.html?hp&_r=1
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