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A long-forgotten slice of the Harlem River is about to look very different. Fresh renderings show Fordham Landing South, a massive mixed-use project planned for University Heights, where two new buildings would stack nearly 927 affordable apartments above a rebuilt shoreline.
The design by Perkins Eastman is tall and glassy: three mid-rise towers will rise from a single podium in the north building, while a taller single tower will anchor the south building. Site plans show the structures bending along the river’s edge, with ground-floor community spaces, residential lobbies and a full-size grocery store tucked into the base.
What’s most striking about the development isn’t its height, but rather the changes that will be made to the adjacent waterfront. The project includes more than three acres of public access, including a new esplanade, plantings, seating and a walkway that hugs the shoreline. The One Fordham Landing brochure sketches out an approximately 33,375-square-foot stretch designed for actual neighborhood use, not just glossy marketing images.
Transit-wise, the project wraps the University Heights Metro-North station, with renderings showing a revamped station entrance beneath the tracks and paths leading directly into the site. Subway lines, buses and bike access all land within a few blocks, so this will be one of the rare Bronx waterfront projects where getting there isn’t the issue.
State officials have committed $55 million for infrastructure (including drainage, utilities and access improvements) to unlock the site for housing. All apartments are slated to be income-restricted, with a portion reserved for formerly homeless households. Community space, an indoor-outdoor soccer field, a charter school, parking and a supermarket round out the program mix.
For now, it’s still renderings and politics. But if the final project lands anywhere close to what’s on paper, a once-scruffy edge of the Harlem River could become a genuinely active waterfront—one with actual residents, river views and a grocery run that doesn’t require climbing a hill.
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