East Fordham Road has always been one of the Bronx’s most active commercial corridors — a dense mix of retail, transit access, and neighborhood energy that stretches through Fordham, Belmont, and the surrounding blocks. Now, a series of new building permit filings signals that the next chapter of that corridor’s story is beginning to take shape, with developers betting on residential density in a stretch of the Bronx that the City of Yes zoning reforms have made significantly more buildable.

The 680 East Fordham Road Project

Permits were filed in February 2026 with the NYC Department of Buildings for a 13-story, mixed-use building at 680 East Fordham Road in the Fordham neighborhood. The proposed development, filed under DOB job number X01358456 on February 11, 2026, would rise approximately 118 feet and yield roughly 234,000 square feet of total space.

The bulk of that space — nearly 199,000 square feet — is designated for residential use, with approximately 35,000 square feet of commercial space on the lower floors. The development would bring 98 individual residences to the site, which sits between Crotona Avenue and Cambreleng Street. The developer behind the filing is Hen Vaknin, with Nikolai Katz Architect listed as the architect of record. The building would be constructed using a concrete structure with nine open parking spaces on site.

Demolition permits for the existing structures on the site had not yet been filed as of the most recent public records. That means the project is still in early-stage planning, but the permit filings mark the formal beginning of the City’s review process — and serve as an early signal of what may rise at that corner over the next several years.

Not the Only One on Fordham Road

The 680 East Fordham Road project is part of a broader pattern of development permit activity along this corridor. Permits have also been filed for 528 East Fordham Road in the Belmont area — another mixed-use proposal in the same general stretch. Manhattan-based developer Bridge Asset Management has separately filed plans for 190 residential units at a nearby site in Belmont, the first phase of what is expected to be a 370-unit development on the zoning lot at 680–690 East Fordham Road.

Taken together, these filings point to a coordinated uptick in development interest in the Fordham Road corridor specifically — driven in part by the zoning flexibility introduced by City of Yes, which expanded where residential buildings can be built and relaxed some of the density limits that had constrained development in this part of the Bronx.

The Wider Policy Context: East Bronx Development Plan

The permit filings along Fordham Road do not happen in a vacuum. The NYC Department of City Planning has been advancing an East Bronx neighborhood plan as part of the same slate of initiatives that produced the OneLIC rezoning in Queens and the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan in Brooklyn. While the East Bronx plan targets different geography — primarily the Unionport, Parkchester, and Castle Hill areas further east — it signals that the city views the Bronx as a priority for structured, coordinated development planning rather than ad-hoc permit approvals.

A public hearing was held on April 24, 2026 by Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson regarding a separate rezoning matter at 1160 Pugsley Avenue in the East Bronx — another sign that formal land use processes are active across the borough, not just in its southern and central sections.

For the Fordham corridor specifically, the question is how these new residential buildings will integrate with a street that is already dense, transit-rich, and under significant retail pressure. Fordham Road is served by the B and D subway lines at Fordham Road station, making it one of the better-connected parts of the Bronx for car-free residents — a factor that makes it particularly attractive to developers building under the new lower-parking requirements enabled by City of Yes.

What You Need to Know

• A 13-story building is planned at 680 East Fordham Road. Permits were filed in February 2026. No demolition permits have been filed yet, so construction is likely at least one to two years away. Neighbors can track the project at DOB NOW: nyc.gov/buildings using job number X01358456.
• Multiple projects are in motion on this corridor. 528 East Fordham Road and the Bridge Asset Management project nearby are part of the same wave of development interest. This is not a single one-off permit — it reflects a real shift in developer attention toward this stretch of the Bronx.
• Parking will be limited. The 680 Fordham Road building is planned with only 9 parking spaces for a development of 98 residences. This is consistent with City of Yes parking reforms for transit-accessible areas. Residents should plan for the building’s occupants to be primarily car-free or to seek parking elsewhere.
• Existing buildings are not yet demolished. The corner at 680 East Fordham Road still has existing structures as of the permit filings. If you operate a business or live in the area, watch for a demolition permit filing — that is when construction activity becomes imminent.
• Community Board 6 Bronx covers the Fordham Road area. Their next scheduled monthly meeting is your opportunity to ask questions about these developments and any associated zoning variances. Visit the NYC Community Boards portal at nyc.gov/html/mancb to find meeting dates and agendas.
• For more on what is happening in the Fordham-Belmont area, including the community organizations making a difference there, see: Bronx Community Voices: POTS, Fordham Prep, and the Quiet Partnership Feeding the South Bronx.

A Corridor Worth Watching

East Fordham Road is not a blank slate. It is one of the most economically active streets in the Bronx, with deep roots in the neighborhood’s Latin and West African communities, anchor institutions like Fordham University and the New York Botanical Garden nearby, and decades of community investment layered into its blocks. New 13-story residential buildings are not neutral events on a street like this — they bring new residents, new retail pressure, and new demands on already-stretched infrastructure.

The permit filings are the beginning of a long public process, not the end of it. Bronx residents have the right to weigh in at Community Board hearings, track DOB applications, and hold developers and city agencies accountable for what gets built and how it fits into the neighborhood already here. The paperwork has been filed. What happens next is, in part, up to you.