Bronx Construction Starts Set to Top $2 Billion for Third Consecutive Year
Published on Dec 27, 2017 by
NEW YORK, December 27, 2017 – The value of construction starts in the Bronx is on pace to surpass $2 billion in 2017. If realized, it would represent the third consecutive year that totals have passed that mark, according to a New York Building Congress report released today.
The report, Construction Outlook Update: Bronx Construction Starts, notes that for the first nine months of this year, the Bronx represented five percent of the total value for New York City. This is slight decrease from the seven percent experienced in 2016. In 2015, the Bronx accounted for five percent and in 2014 it represented four percent.
“The Bronx is experiencing positive momentum and benefitting from continued strong investment from both the public and private sectors,” said Building Congress President and CEO Carlo A. Scissura. “With the value of annual construction starts more than doubling since the beginning of this decade, it’s obvious that the development community now views the Bronx in a whole new light. And I would be surprised if that percentage doesn’t continue to rise in the coming years.”
Top Project Starts
The top two Bronx project starts by value in the first nine months of 2017 involved public works. The list was headed by a $232 million New York State Department of Transportation-funded project to replace Unionport Bridge, which carries the Bruckner Expressway across Westchester Creek. The second project is a new 12-story, 305-unit, mixed-use project valued at $133 million, which is being developed by the City’s Housing Preservation & Development in partnership with the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corp. and BFC Partners.
Over the past three years, nine of the top projects in the Bronx have come from the public sector, including the Bruckner Expressway project and a $213 million reconstruction project of the toll plaza on the Bronx side of the RFK Bridge in 2015.
Renovations and alterations to PS 46, PS 14 and PS 19 were the largest of the institutional projects, each topping $50 million.
Strength in New Housing Starts
The residential sector led the way in the Bronx, representing 52 percent of the value of all construction projects initiated in the borough between 2015 and the first three quarters of 2017. Major projects include a $104 million, 256-unit, mixed-use project in East Tremont and a $100 million, 314-unit, mixed-use project in Belmont.
Over the same period, the institutional sector accounted for 19 percent, followed by public works with 17 percent and commercial buildings with nine percent. The remaining three percent was made up of various utilities and manufacturing projects.
The residential sector continued to drive the Bronx construction market through the first three quarters of 2017, accounting for 53 percent of the value of all construction projects in the Bronx, followed by public works (20 percent), institutions (15 percent) and commercial properties (11 percent).
Through the first nine months of 2017, 3,190 residential units were initiated in the Bronx. This puts the borough on pace to narrowly surpass 2015’s total of 4,240 units, which is the current high point of this decade.
The Bronx’s nine-month total represents about 17 percent of the housing units started throughout the city in 2017, which is in keeping with 2016, when 3,918 of the 23,694 housing units emanated from the Bronx. These 2016 and 2017 Bronx totals are an improvement from the period between 2011 and 2015, when the percentage of units initiated in the Bronx ranged from eight to 11 percent.
In the first three quarters of 2017, the Bronx saw the construction of 1,515 units of affordable housing initiated, while 1,150 units were rehabbed during the same nine-month period.
“The Bronx possesses the most opportunities for new residential development, and the ability to produce new housing for residents at all income levels,” said Mr. Scissura. “As the de Blasio administration further ramps up its affordable housing program and as private developers increasingly look to the north, the future looks bright for the Bronx.”
The construction data for this report is provided by Dodge Data & Analytics and encompass all project starts, including new ground-up construction, alterations and renovations to existing structures, and public infrastructure. The data reflect the total estimated value of each initiated project throughout the entire period of construction.