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I will just reiterate here (if anyone is still reading this thread) that Parkchester IMO is a very SOLID investment and, for me anyway, has been a great place to live.
Pros - Huge and well laid out apartments
-One of the best deals on condos in the City
-Safe and friendly
-Everything you need for daily living is in walking distance (Starbucks, Macy's, Dress Barn, The Childrens Place, NYC Woman, Sleepys, post office, banks, supermarkets, cinema with 1st run movies, etc. Plus a great Spa - Canela's - where you can get everything from a manicure and pedicure to a facial or massage!)
-Tons of greenspace, trees, etc.
-Extremely well maintained
-More people from Manhattan moving in every month
-A huge marketing push going on now by the Board to showcase the complex
-Prices seem to be going up. When I first bought in late 2006 the highest listing for a one bedroom was $115,000. The highest ones now are at $139,000. (Not sure what they are actually selling for, but listing prices by realtors who know what they are doing should be a good indication that prices are still on the rise.)
-Subway and Express Bus direct to UES of Manhattan and Midtown
- 5 minute bus ride to Bronx Zoo or Bronx Botanical Garden
-Growth potential is huge, IMO
Cons - Lack of decent parking, unless you want to pay for a space in one of the garages
-Still a few people left from the days when they weren't so stringent about rules for getting in. Loud music in some buildings, swearing, littering, etc. This has been diminishing in the 1 1/2 years I have been here and will only continue to improve once these types of "neighbors" move out. (But it is 10 times quieter and cleaner than my last apartment on 72nd Street on the UWS, so it is all relative)
-Needs better nightlife (and with all the younger people I see moving in from the City, this can only be a matter of time)
-The Board is, IMO, too strict about people using the "great lawns". One is directly behind my apartment (many of us jog around the perimeter, but the lawn itself is off limits) It would be a lovely place to lay out, have picnics or watch kids play frisbee, fly kites, etc.
Yeah I know, I keep hearing if you are a white female stay out you are gonna find trouble.
Thing is my boyfriends mother owns a house in Parkchester...My boyfriend is Puerto Rican, his mom isn't doing so well and I'm just graduating college and getting on my feet.
She offered us the apartment she has available and in turn I am going to help her with doctor visits, bringin her to church etc and my boyfriend is gonna move back home to help her pay for the mortgage etc.
I just want to know how bad it is really. I mean I know the area, I have been visiting there for the past 2 years and I have some friends there.
I never see that much... a lil this and that. Is the treck up to the 6 train that bad on white plains?
I don't want to feel trapped. I mean right now I live in brooklyn and I love it, yeah I see the occasional drug deal etc but overall theres everybody in my neighborhood and its great.
The way my boyfriends little brother acts though, he never goes out in parkchester, always stays in, good kid. Then again he also grew up in a really rough neighborhood where he saw a lot more than is goin on in parkchester....
eh I dont know... I love the fam, I want them around me, Im just nervous being white is like having a bullseye on my back.
I've got more friends in the bronx ironically then anywhere else... but Im the only white girl.
While Parkchester is not the safest area for a 22yr old white female to be living or walking the streets it's also not the WORST area in the Bronx. Could of been worse like SoundView or Hunts Point somewhere so, just watch your back, beware of your neighbors and keep to yourself and you should be alright.
After reading this thread I think some things have to be cleared up here. First of all I want everone here to know .. I grew up in parkchester and lived there for 20 years. My family has rented and owned apts in parkchester proper.
My grandfather was one of the origional renters when it was opened for business back in the 1940s. Alot of the comments here that the community was better back then are somewhat on target. I was told that when met life owned it, in order to get an apt in the complex an inspector would come and check how you kept your home!!!! A determination would be made if you could get the apt based upon that. (if that was done today it would be considered discrimation but really is it?). They cared more about the community, and it was met life that made it like what most people remember
Yes at some point the communiity was segragated. That all changed in the 60's
As many have stated the northern part of parkchester is the problem. The buildings by tremont ave are where most if not all the problems happen. Any one in the community knows that the southern part over macys or by the post office is better then the northern. If you live in southern area of parkchester along metropolitan, wood road, or west ave you know what I mean by that.
Fast foward to the 70's 80's and 90's. Parkchester started its decline at that point. Yes there was white flight and that did contribute to it. The major reason why people left was because it became very unsafe. You had stick up kids and drug deals on the corners of westchester. ave. I know I saw it!
I remember being walked to school because my parents were afraid that something would happen. This one safe community took a turn for the worse. Why?
Does any one here remember the 80's in parkchester? I do.. I lived it. You couldnt walk the streets after dark during the summer. I also remember them taking out 20 people from the bulding oposite me for drugs.
Our family finally left reluctantly in 1995 as did most others in our building because we just didnt feel safe in the neighborhood anymore.
This is why you have alot of old timers saying that it was better back then. It is not the same community as they remember.
Oh and I have to agree with NYCwoman on the state of the buildings. Our porter use to keep the all the floors spotless. He also use to shine the brass door knobs!! Everything was kept clean and neat. Also I might add when some punk sprayed the halls with grafitti, with in less then a day it was painted over. The southern part of the community was always known for spotless buildings
guy dont come back and tell me that I am raciest or anything with in that matter. The simple fact is the cop is right. There was and probably still is alot of quality of life issues going on in the northern part of parkchester. my friends and I use to call the northern part of parkcester the jungle because at points it was that bad.
Oh and as far as diversity it is in all areas in the bronx. My wife lived in riverdale all her life and she is half latina/half italian. Now that is a beautiful area.
I have gone back to parkchester reciently to visit friends in the area, and I have to say it has changed quite a bit since I last lived there. It seems alot nicer and no I dont see any gang activity. I think that is just someones misconcieved notions. All my friends live by the 6 train so that might be why. Do I feel the southern portion is safe? Yes I feel it is safe to a point. I dont feel it is as safe morris park, or riverdale. I never had a problem but then again I am familiar with the "hood". Yes I am a white italian male.
Why am I posting this? I just want to give the young lady a clear perspective from someone that has lived in the community before with out it being sugar coated.
so I am super late to this thread, but I wanted to say that it was very helpful for me. I'm a young south asian female moving in with my european (read: white) boyfriend and have been cautioned against moving into this neighborhood.
He already lives there and I have spent a number of weekends there with him and like the neighborhood and liked the apartments we saw.
I am glad that you liked the neighborhood and the apts..there is alot to like about Parkchester. Is it perfect? Nope..what is? It is actualy a very safe, diverse, green, and VERY affordable community with multiple public transportation access to NYC (express train/express buses). Anyone who believes that Parkchester is crime ridden, or somehow dangerous is either speaking from the perspective of someone who REMEMBERS how Parkchester used to be, or is just regurgitating whatever they hear, or is involved with the "wrong" crowd. Should you flash $100 bills as you walk down Parkchester...nope...and I don't recommend doing that walking down ANY neighborhood.
so I am super late to this thread, but I wanted to say that it was very helpful for me. I'm a young south asian female moving in with my european (read: white) boyfriend and have been cautioned against moving into this neighborhood.
He already lives there and I have spent a number of weekends there with him and like the neighborhood and liked the apartments we saw.
If you have already spent weekends there and like the neighborhood that should say it all. It certainly should say more to you than anything anyone else has had to say.
I've been in Parkchester for 2 years. My understanding for the decline in the 80s and early 90s was due to......
1. Bad management. Helmsley bought it from MetLife, and didn't understand the difference between commercial and residential property management (Helmsleys were commercial folk!). It was the Helmsleys first venture into residential management and was not very competent at it! And dividing Parkchester into North and South due to the failed condo conversion (took awhile to recover) didn't help, either!
2. Investors buying properties and renting them out to anyone without checks. That changed with current management (who bought it from Helmsley). I'm considering renting my apartment and Parkchester now not only wants the whole nine yards on the prospective tenant (credit, background, etc), but they also get final approval.
I respect all of your posts and agree with them except the one where you characterized the kids back then as probably jumping on a kid of color.
I was a kid back then and we NEVER would have done such a thing. Parkchester was not Howard beach. Had we done such a thing, and got caught, our fathers would have kicked our ass, and then the brothers at St. Raymond's would have done the same. Believe it or not, we were taught to be fair and never pick on any kid because he was smaller or goofier OR because he was black - especially black.
I know you will find this hard to believe but it's true. Yeah, there were some kids who didn't toe the line, what group doesn't have kids like that? But, if we saw them doing that, we would give them a dose of their own and that would be the end of that!
Don't get me wrong, we weren't angels. But picking on a black kid just because he was black was beyond the pale and not done.
In the 50's we had our gang fights but it was always white-on-white and settled with fists. Mostly we played basketball and chased the girls - just like the black kids did in their neighborhoods.
I was born in Parkchester in 1942 and my mother lived there until her death in 1983. I know what I'm talking about.
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White Female possibly Moving to Parkchester
