A Coney Island developer is determined to build on the corner of Roberts and Parkview avenues. Pending Department of Buildings approval, ITG Development Group will demolish 1701 Parkview Avenue, a three-story brick house, and erect a six-story apartment building.
According to ITG partner Judah Langer, the building will include 20-some residential units with ground or basement-level parking. It will resemble 1600 Parkview Avenue, Langer said, an eight-story building near Our Lady of Assumption School. Alfred Reyes, principal of Parkview Avenue Estates, has owned 1701 since 2005.
In January, the DOB disapproved a proposed seven-story building. Again on April 21, it disapproved a similar plan. Soon, Langer and Reyes will file a revised plan.
“No problem,” Langer said. “We have to take care of some minor details, like a sprinkler system.”
The existing three-story house is vacant; a number of tenants were evicted in 2008. Although two-family homes line Parkview, the corner property is located in a medium density zone. In fact, it borders 3109 Roberts Avenue, a six-story apartment building.
ITG is currently developing a pair of two- and three-family homes on Cedar Avenue and will soon begin work on a 23-unit apartment building in Bedford Park. It could embark onthe 1701 Parkview Avenue project in the next 90 days, Langer said. Last year, ITG informed Councilman James Vacca that it would market the new building to young, Manhattan-bound commuters. The Buhre Avenue train station is four blocks away. Now Langer predicts a “neighborhood crowd.”
“There’s a shortage of housing [in Pelham Bay],” he said.
According to a zoning clause adopted by the city council in 2008, ITG will leave an eight-foot side yard between 1701 Parkview Avenue and the next house on Parkview. Above three floors, the building will retreat 25 feet, Langer said.
Barbara D’Amico owns the next two houses over, 1713 Parkview Avenue and 1715 Parkview Avenue. Both are three-family homes. D’Amico occupies one-third of 1715 Parkview Avenue. She called the plan a nightmare.
“Our schools are already crowded,” D’Amico said. “Parking is already unbearable.”
Currently, a garage stands between the corner house and 1713 Parkview Avenue. The new building could deprive 1713 Parkview Avenue of sun. D’Amico has little faith in the market.
“[Reyes] wants to do a Wall Street type of building,” D’Amico said. “But this is the Bronx. We don’t have Wall Street type of people. It’s going to sit empty, just like Waterbury Estates.”
D’Amico thinks Reyes could renovate the existing house.
“Or knock it down and build a two-family home,” she said. “Not some monstrosity.”
