Residents irate over Finance Department move to the South Bronx
An irate crowd stood outside the city Department of Finance’s Westchester Square office one day last week.
Folks in the group had gone there to pay or contest parking tickets, but were told the department had moved to the South Bronx.
“It’s confusing, because everybody’s used to coming here,” said Felix Perez, 28. “I don’t think it’s a good move.”
Be that as it may, the shift to the department’s new Bronx Business Center on Third Ave., near 156th St., will consolidate its two borough locations into the recently completed $56.7 million retail and government office HUB complex.
Parking violation hearings have been held there since Nov. 19, with the full move expected to be completed by Dec. 3.
Borough residents will be able to pay bills and record deeds at the new location, and about 225 city employees are being relocated there as part of a general effort to revitalize the South Bronx. Community Board 1 will also move its office there.
The new Yankee Stadium and the Gateway Center at the Bronx Terminal Market are also expected to bring additional jobs to the area.
“This development helps expand the impact of almost a billion dollars in projects currently underway in the downtown Bronx, Borough President Adolfo Carrión said in a statement.
The new center, which already houses a Staples, Rite-Aid and Forman Mills, and a Nine West and Sleepy’s in the adjacent building, is expected to generate about $35 million in sales and payroll revenue over the next 25 years.
The lot stood empty for about 35 years, according to Vincent Valentino, executive director of Hub Third Avenue Merchants District Management Association.
“[Mayor] Bloomberg, the City Council and the Bronx borough president pushed the developers to come to our area,” said Valentino. “We needed more homes and better businesses. We were the forgotten borough.”
Four years ago, Related Companies won the bid from the city to develop the lot and the adjacent parking lot.
“The city always felt that the Third Ave. commercial corridor is a vibrant shopping district,” said Glenn Goldstein, president of Related Retail at Related Companies. “But as you go north on Third Ave., all the activity would trail off. They hoped this would serve as a northern anchor to the corridor.”
SOURCE: NY Daily News
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