Listing of the Day: Cheapest Studio in the City

Fordham Road and Morris Avenue, Studio - $695/month

This just may be the cheapest studio in the City. There's nothing fancy about it; it doesn't have granite or stainless steel; it doesn't have a balcony; no doorman. But it is pretty damned affordable.

The location near Fordham Road gives you tons of shopping. You would still be close enough to the Garden and Zoo for a nice half hour or 45 minute walk on a sunny day (or be lazy and take the Bx12).

The name of the game for today, kiddies, is cheap, cheap, cheap. Trying to make it work in New York is tough. This $695/month studio is one way to do it.

Transportation is pretty good with the B/D at Fordham Road and the Concourse and the 4 at Jerome Avenue and the Concourse.

FULL LISTING

Listing of the Day: Fordham House

2574 Marion Avenue, 3 Bedrooms, 1.5 Bathrooms - $360,000

This is a single family house just north of Fordham Road. While this neighborhood isn't ideal, it's hard to find a single family home for less. It's sad to say, and maybe prices still have a lot more to fall to correct themselves, but $360,000 is a New York City bargain in terms of houses.

The unit itself looks nice enough. It has a decent backyard (that might need a little work), dark hardwood floors, and a reasonable kitchen (read: doesn't have to be gutted).

Just a few blocks north of Fordham Road, where this house is, can still be rough around the edges, but it's not the Wild West. Fordham Road itself serves as an amenity with tons of shopping. You'd be near Fordham University. You'd have a 15 minute walk to Arthur Avenue; a 20 minute walk to the Bronx Zoo; and a 15 minute walk to the Botanical Garden. Not to be underestimated, you'd also be super closer to the Bronx's biggest, baddest, and most user-friendly library.

Transportation is good with the B/D at Fordham Road the the Concourse. There are also a multitude of buses on Fordham Road in addition to the Metro North at Fordham Road and Webster Avenue.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Fordham Road Rental

East Fordham Road, 2 Bedrooms - $900/month

The listing doesn't specify where exactly on East Fordham Road this apartment is, but it would have to be somewhere between Jerome Avenue and Bronx Park (i.e the Zoo and Botanical Garden). The other side of Jerome Avenue is West Fordham Road, and the on the other side of Bronx Park Fordham Road runs into and becomes Pelham Parkway.

The pictures are pretty nice for such a low price. To be honest, you'd find a lot of one bedrooms in the vicinity for more than this price. The listing does emphasize that the bedrooms are small (8 x11 and 8x12), but the price is still pretty damned low.

Fordham Road obviously has lots of shopping and you'd have the new amenities of Fordham Plaza with Best Buy and the soon to come Applebee's. Also at Fordham Plaza is the not to missed Maria's Tacos. Fordham University is in the hood, so you'd be able to enjoy some cultural stuff and A-10 hoops (even though the Rams kinda stink this year). The baddest public library in the Bronx would be close by as well. Arthur Ave is in walking distance for top quality Italian grub.

Transportation is pretty nice with the B/D at Fordham Road and the Concourse and further west the 4 is at Jerome and Fordham Road. For the fancy pants commuters, there is the Metro North station at Fordham Road and Webster Avenue.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Listing of the Day: Fordham Road Rental

Fordham Road, 2 Bedrooms - $995/month

The listing does not provide much detail as to where on Fordham Road this unit is, but $995 for a two bedroom?  This thing could be on Fordham Road and al Asad Boulevard in Baghdad and it would be cheap. 

Taking this rent and chopping it in two, then pro-rating for a per diem rent comes out to $16.58 per day, per person.  Some people in this city pay more than that for their daily lunch at the falafel cart.

If BoogieDowner had to guess where a two bedroom would fetch a mere $995 a month on the Fordham Road stretch, methinks it would be further west in University Heights.  Probably south of Fordham Road proper.  Not the best hood in the world, 

but if your looking for a super-cheap share this is your pad.

The pictures show a decent apartment and with hardwood floors.  The pics also show a bathroom, which seems to indicate the existence of running water - not to be taken for granted in a unit this cheap.

Anywhere along Fordham Road the transportation would be good.  If you are where I think this is, the 4 at Jerome and Fordham Road would be pretty close.  If you're farther east, the B/D at the Concourse and Fordham Road would do the trick.

FULL LISTING

~ErLu

Sears and Applebees Part of Fordham Road Surge

Lore Crogan of the Daily News reported that the newly renovated Sears building (which will have 14-stories of top-tier class-A office space right across from Metro North) at Fordham Plaza is just the start to the influx of dollars to the Fordham Road shopping area.

In addition to the new-look of the Sears building, the Bronx will get it's 4th (and biggest) Applebee's. Not sure why an Applebee's in Bed Stuy made a little buzz on Curbed , and this Applebee's gets nary a mention. BoogieDowner thinks that Applebee's will do well there. Hungry broke college students from Fordham might be a nice customer base, as well as famished shoppers, who are ravenous after grabbing all those deals on Fordham Road.

Another big addition, not just to Fordham Road, but to the Bronx as a whole, is Best Buy. Yep, it's hard to believe, but the BoogieDown will be getting it's first and only Best Buy. Other nice additions will be a Walgreen's and a 24-Hour Fitness Center. The timeline right now is that most or all of these retailers will be open for the Christmas season.

Fordham Road has always been one of the best shopping strips in the Bronx - it's just going to get a little bit better with all these new retailers coming in and dollars being spent to upgrade buildings.

Sears Spurs Strip’s Revival in Central Bronx.; More Chains Coming [Lore Crogan's, NYDN]

~ErLu

Oversaturation of Bars? Blasphemy!

The Daily News's Dorian Block reports that Community Board 6, which includes Belmont, East Tremont, and Fordham, is pushing to cease the awarding of liquor licenses to any new businesses in the area.

While not overtly stated, it's pretty obvious to this ex-Fordham bar crawler that part of the reason they are seeking this moratorium is because they're sick of Fordham students clogging the streets of Belmont/Little Italy making noise at 2am.

Hmmmm, tricky scenario. While it must be annoying to live above one of the FU bars, it's pretty harsh to fight for a ruling that makes it extremely difficult for new businesses to obtain a liquor license. The board says they are not targeting new restaurants, but I fail to see how they would not affected. Does this seem like a good decision in terms of economic stimulation in the Belmont area? No sirree.

I'd also like to point out that although there are certainly negatives that the Fordham students bring to the Belmont area late at night, they (and their families) also spend a lot of money in the hood. The economic boost they give by spending money in the restaurants, bakeries, food stores, and coffee shops shouldn't be overlooked.

Fordham students are also heavily involved in community service throughout the Bronx, and particularly in the Belmont area. So this blogger's official stance on this topic is: you have to take the good along with the bad. If you limit the amount of recreational options that are available to students, they will just head to Manhattan and spend their money there. It's a slippery slope... If a message is sent that their presence is not appreciated, the area could feel a major economic hit.

~ErLu

Real Deal, We Love You, But Tell Us Why?

Why does Real Deal, who picked up the story from Brownstoner cover a yoga opening in Park Slope? Aren't yoga studios as plentiful to the Slope as herpes are to Paris Hilton?

I know that BoogieDowner is not quite Brownstoner yet (we're pretty damn cool though), but if the Real Deal is on the hunt for new yoga studios in outer boroughs, Boogiedowner has let the world in on a few.

Here's one in Morris Park and another off of Fordham Road.

I think yoga studios opening in our beloved, under-appreciated, and affordable borough are much more news worthy then mommy-and-me militant imperialism in Park Slope.

Handle your business, Real Deal. We're watching.

~ErLu

For the Ladies...

Sorry, another random "walking around the hood" post I wanted to share specifically with all the BoogieDowner ladies...

I guess I haven't really been to Fordham Road/Kingsbridge Road in a while. As I posted about earlier, we were walking around that area today and I was quite surprised to find a Nine West Outlet right next to (gasp!) a yoga studio. We are so high-end and trendy y'all!

Unfortunately the yoga studio is housed in the same space as a Karate Center and right next to a gold jewelry exchange- baby steps people, baby steps. For a shopping area that Wikipedia defines as having stores that are "inexpensive and Hip-Hop Oriented," this is a nice show of diversity.

~ErLu