Working people like to live in Wakefield for many reasons. At the northern border with Yonkers and Mount Vernon, a variety of mass transit reaches anywhere in New York City and Westchester. Money, meals, medical care and most miscellaneous needs can be met in the busy shopping districts along White Plains Road and E 233rd Street. You might even have a backyard, driveway and garage. So like George and Weezy, move on up to the east side where the living is nice and easy.
No deluxe apartments in the sky, but new mid-rise projects are springing up along the 2 and 5 subway spine running up White Plains Road. These are New York City’s only subway stations that reach the full east and west sides of Manhattan. Other apartment buildings occupy the slope down to the Bronx River. A handful are currently for sale.
The northwest corner along the Metro North tracks and Bronx River Parkway holds most of the industrial stock, as well as a few nice office properties near Montefiore Medical Center Wakefield Campus. Retail assets are also widespread although many, priced for their R6 & R7 dirt, are getting acquired to redevelop.
Wakefield is also notable for its prevalence of churches scattered on every few blocks across this bright and happy neighborhood sitting atop one of The Bronx’s geological ridge lines. That may be a reason for its lower crime rate than most neighborhoods. Don’t bother looking for a parking space on Sunday mornings.
Metro-North serves the community with the Wakefield and Woodlawn Harlem Line stations reaching Grand Central to Brewster and everywhere in between. A multitude of MTA and Westchester bus routes make the neighborhood uniquely accessible to most of the southern New York gateway area. Car owners primarily come and go from The Bronx River Parkway.
Those are some of the reasons why Wakefield was 2022’s most popular neighborhood to buy in The Bronx. Around 300 parcels sold at market last year for almost $250 million in aggregate. The longer distance to Manhattan keeps Wakefield rents a little lower than other areas of The Bronx, but investors see more room for growth in that half full glass.
Most of those deals traded the favorite Bronx investment property, small multifamily homes with 2 to 4 units, like we wrote about in October. Wakefield has plenty of American dream single family homes too. Indeed, every asset class has a presence here.
Developing Wakefield
Plans have been filed for a major transit orientated development near the Wakefield Metro-North station. Six buildings will comprise over a million square feet plus green space. Wakefield Village will have 1,200 income restricted apartments, community facilities, retail, and parking. The bureaucratic process has been underway since mid 2021 and if approved, construction on the towers reaching up to 27 stories should begin next year.
Most of Wakefield is zoned R4, with some R5 sprinkled throughout. Both categories have low floor area ratios and height limits which keeps the neighborhood sunny and airy. White Plains Road is zoned at the higher density R6 and larger apartments can be built in the R7 zone along the Bronx River. An industrial M1-1 zone is up near the Yonkers line.
Wakefield Properties For Sale
Dozens of single family and small multifamily homes are currently available for sale in Wakefield. Prices range widely so any buyer can find something appealing. On average, the neighborhood trades at a slight discount to our Silver benchmarks.
Multifamily investors need to factor rents a little below average. Low teens are more common than high teens in the older stock, while the newer buildings will get above $2k per month. The newly constructed units usually rent through lotteries to qualified tenants who pay with vouchers.
Various sized apartment buildings are currently for sale. A few have under ten units and are asking below $2 million, some above and below our benchmark values. A larger 16 unit building with a 5 unit detached garage is currently asking $2.2 million.
The queen of the current market is 4116-4118 Carpenter Ave with 61 recently renovated units near the hospital, subway, and park. We usually don’t see buildings like this until they hit our comp reports. Updated windows, roof and pointing, well-kept steel and marble stairways, and a nine camera surveillance system all keep repairs and maintenance under control. The building is heated by a dual fuel boiler currently running #4 oil, drawn from a 5,000 gallon above-ground tank.
Marco Lala’s team at RM Friedland listed this well maintained five story Tudor style walkup nearing its century mark, not far from his old school. The mostly single bedroom units rent in the low to mid teens, with a couple of three bedroom units getting above $2k. Asking just shy of $8 million computes to a 6.1% cap rate on their setup, and a significant discount to our price per unit benchmark. Please contact us to learn more.
Office and industrial properties near Montefiore are priced at a premium to other neighborhoods. The small number available are in excellent condition, some with long term tenants. If you’re looking for vacant land, a couple of small development sites are also available in R6A and M1-1 zones.
Several retail leases are available around our Silver benchmark and office spaces are available at Bronze levels. Direct leases posted in windows can probably get signed at a discount.
Industrial space is available for lease below our benchmark. That’s because trucks can’t travel on The Bronx River Parkway and the elevated subway can be difficult to navigate around.
Kayak The Bronx
Apartment dwellers without their own yard enjoy the beautiful Shoelace Park meandering for a mile along the Bronx River. This is where neighbors play on ball fields and playgrounds, and stroll along bike and walking paths. You can even kayak The Bronx from a launch point near E 219th Street.
Two new hotels have recently opened. The Monti is near the hospital and The Vybe is near the subway. Tourists can now avail themselves of Wakefield’s excellent mass transit to reach the entire New York City metropolitan area.
If you’re looking to buy your slice of The Bronx and can’t decide where, Wakefield offers discount values, excellent infrastructure, and a wide variety of properties and values to choose from. That’s why so many people decide to invest here.
Please use our Contact function to learn more about any Wakefield properties for sale or lease, or anything else about The Bronx real estate market.
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