Parkchester area in process of forming BID as stores remain vacant

There are still plenty of vacant storefronts on Castle Hill and Westchester avenues – three years after News 12 reported on the closed shops in the area.

News 12 Staff

Sep 24, 2019, 11:38 PM

Updated 1,685 days ago

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There are still plenty of vacant storefronts on Castle Hill and Westchester avenues – three years after News 12 reported on the closed shops in the area.
Last month, the Department of City Planning released its Assessing Storefront Vacancy in NYC study. While it didn't specifically look at the Parkchester neighborhood, it showed "vacancy rates are volatile, and vary from street to street and cannot be explained by a single factor."

Yasmine Cruz, of the Westchester Square Business Improvement District, says the area is in the process of forming its own BID that could be up and running within the year. She says it could help aid negotiations between business owners and property owners.
"Part of the solution is bringing the property owners with potential – people who want to fill in these areas and create the solution with a BID,” says Cruz.
Lisa Sorin, of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, agrees.
"There was a time where you couldn't pay people to move into the Bruckner Boulevard, and now it’s an area [where] everyone wants to be," she says.


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