Fordham Plaza, a space long abandoned and isolated, is undergoing revitalization efforts and becoming a vibrant new community hub thanks to Marco Sharma, founder and owner of MASC Hospitality Group (MHG).
MHG is an events company that produces and promotes the Bronx, Brooklyn, Uptown, Long Island, Latin, and Vegan Night Markets. Street Eats Foundation is the nonprofit arm of MHG that supports up and coming entrepreneurs within the food and market industry.
Several community-informed initiatives, local vendors, and more than 20 merchants are transforming the space and offering opportunities for the community to come together.
MHG is spearheading efforts to transform the plaza after nearly closing the Bronx Night Market — a beloved community open-air market — due to years of maintenance concerns at Fordham Plaza. Following a $34 million renovation by the Department of Transportation (DOT) in 2016, the plaza failed to secure vendors to the location for years. The space became a site of vacant kiosks, vandalism, and public safety concerns.
“We understood it was such an important moment in the Bronx. Bronx Night Market is beyond a food festival, it’s part of the identity of the Bronx,” Sharma said.
In the fall of 2023, MHG cited a lack of sponsorship, illegal vending, crime, and failure of the DOT to maintain the plaza as reasons to close the beloved market. The market has been the only consistent venue to occupy Fordham Plaza since 2017. The Bronx Night Market takes place once a month from April to November and offers a night of live music with food from more than 40 vendors.
In the months following the Night Market’s announced closure, Bronx Community Board 6 raised concerns about the lack of transparency with DOT, and borough residents expressed frustration with the stalled progress of the project.
However, the “overwhelmingly positive” response from the Bronx community made Sharma reconsider closing the market. After months of consideration and conversations with city and state officials, Sharma decided to return to Fordham Plaza with “a holistic plan” of activating the space for the community.
“It’s such an important thing, not only a place where people can go and enjoy themselves and it’s a free event and there’s music and there’s food, but it’s also the way that we want to see us ourselves in the Bronx,” Sharma said. “We want to understand that we are really just like other boroughs that we deserve and get everything that’s out there.”
Sharma said MHG used polls, newsletters, surveys, and social media to find unmet needs in the community to identify which vendors and initiatives would revive Fordham Plaza. The main issues identified were safety, literacy, lack of access to healthy food, and a need to support local entrepreneurs.
“Everything that we do is driven by the community,” Sharma said. “One of the things that made us unique from day one is our constant communication with the community. We ask questions.”
The Cafe at Fordham is one of the cornerstones of the revival efforts. The new cafe houses a coffee counter and hosts weekly events featuring programming from the Bronx is Reading and the Bronx Native Tiny Desk series after hours.
Other programming at the plaza includes the Bronx Eats, which hosts weekly free plant-based cooking demonstrations promoting healthy eating. An incubator kiosk program spotlights local small-scale vendors. Rotating markets including the Bronx Night Market, literature and local artistry, the Bronx Vegan Bazaar, and Bronx Eats Market take place every Saturday from April to October.
Sharma says Fordham Plaza has the potential to offer a space similar to that of Union Square or Bryant Park. He said MHG hopes to continue transforming the plaza and create a brighter future for the Bronx.
“It takes a lot and we are allocating a ton of resources, whether financial or labor and energy. We want everybody to care like we do. We want the politicians to care like we do, and we want the community to care like we do,” Sharma said. “We know the community cares. We want them to know what we’re doing so that we can support them even further.”
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