Developers initially promised that The Crossings would have a residential component, but scrapped that plan when 'big box' retailers showed no interest in setting up shop at the Hunts Point site
Original rendering of The Crossings, a retail and housing development planned for Hunts Point Ave. at the intersection of Southern and Bruckner Blvds. The Prusik Group, the site's developer, had trouble finding large retailers to fill the space and had to give up plans to build more than 130 residential units.
Seafood, yes.
But South Bronx residents will have to do without a residential component planned for a South Bronx development site.
A two-story retail center featuring a massive 9,000-square-foot Red Lobster will break ground in Hunts Point this year.
The developer scrapped plans for a mixed-use housing complex above the stores, making the project less appetizing to some residents.
“The housing should have been built,” said Miriam Maldonado, 57, a Soundview resident and frequent shopper on Southern Blvd. “It’s out of control.”
Developers at the Prusik Group are set to demolish a BP gas station that currently stands on the corner of 163rd St. and Southern Blvd. to make way for the 40,000-square-foot shopping center, dubbed “The Crossings.”
The project, which has been in the works for nearly four years, has been significantly downgraded due to a lack of interest from larger retailers.
“The market saw some tough times and the plan was forced to change with the times,” Andrew Katz, the co-founder of the Prusik Group, said.
Updatee rendering of The Crossings, a 40,000 square foot retail center slated to open at the intersection of Hunts Point Ave. and Bruckner and Southern Blvds.
The original plans endorsed by Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. in 2010 and approved by City Council called for an eight-story tower to be erected above the two-floor retail site with 138 residential units and a total of 250,000 square-feet of mixed-use space.
“We are happy there’s an interest in development in the Bronx,” said a spokesman for Diaz, John DeSio. “But we’re disappointed that this project that was supposed to be something transformative has not panned out the way we expected.”
The project went through a public review in 2010 that allowed the property to be rezoned for residential use.
Now, the site will feature a Deals discount store, a McDonalds and a 312-seat Red Lobster. Developers had hoped to secure larger box stores, similar to those at the Gateway Plaza Center, to offset the cost of building the residential units.
When that didn’t pan out, plans were altered and investors settled for the two-story retail center now scheduled to be built.
Members of the local community board say the developers have kept them abreast of the restructuring over the past three years.
“This group was very honest with us,” Community Board 2 District Manager Ralph Salamanca said. “They just didn’t have the ability to build the original proposal.”
But it remains to be seen if others will come around. “People don’t have jobs,” Maldonado said. “But we have new malls popping up all over.”
A new mall in the South Bronx will feature a huge Red Lobster and a McDonalds -- but no housing * - NY Daily News
I can't wait to see how the Bronx cleaners try to spruce this one up.
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