A 12-story student residence is on deck for 2740 Webster Avenue in Fordham, set to swap out a surface parking lot for housing aimed at roughly 600 students across from Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus. The tower, designed by Aufgang Architects and led by a joint venture between Maddd Equities and the Stagg Group, would climb to about 130 feet along the Metro-North tracks, with developers eyeing move-ins for the 2029 academic year.
Project details
Permits outline a 12-story, 130-foot-tall building spanning 215,129 square feet and yielding 162 residential units with an official capacity of about 600 students, plus a 20-foot rear yard on a roughly 10,000-square-foot lot at Webster Avenue and East 197th Street, according to New York YIMBY. The project would convert what is now a plain parking lot into a sizable footprint of student housing directly opposite Fordham’s main Bronx campus.
Developer plans and Fordham's role
Developers describe the building as a purpose-built dorm, with 24/7 security and a broad amenity package meant to compete with, and ideally replace, scattered off-campus rentals. Mahesh Katkar of Maddd Equities told Commercial Observer that the team is "having conversations to better define what the final build scope will look like" and has floated a roughly 25,000-square-foot amenity suite. Co-developer Jorge Madruga said the goal is to "be a true dorm building" that gives students a legal, professionally managed option, rather than pushing them into a patchwork of off-campus apartments.
Fordham University itself has not formally signed on as a partner, so the project is moving ahead as a private development aimed squarely at the student market, while talks with the school continue.
Adjacent mixed-use pairing
The dorm is just one half of a larger buildout along the block. At 2768 Webster Avenue, the same development team is pursuing a 13-story, 135-foot mixed-use tower totaling about 439,862 square feet, with roughly 510 residential units, approximately 51,065 square feet of commercial space, and a 73-vehicle garage, according to New York YIMBY. Together, the two projects would put several hundred new apartments and hundreds of student beds on a stretch of Webster that has long been underbuilt relative to the campus across the tracks.
Where this fits in a larger plan
Earlier reporting by The Real Deal sketched out a broader, multi-phase strategy by Maddd Equities and the Stagg Group across several Webster Avenue parcels. The outlet reported the developers paid about $40 million for the sites and have been weighing a mix of institutional student housing with larger affordable-housing components. In that framing, the 2740 and 2768 Webster proposals are the opening moves in a longer-term redevelopment of the block.
Timeline and neighborhood impact
The developers told Commercial Observer they expect the residence hall to be completed by July 2028 and ready for occupancy in time for the 2029 academic year, lining up with anticipated campus growth in the late 2020s. Supporters pitch the project as a safer, more predictable alternative to the often informal off-campus market, with planned amenities such as communal kitchens and athletic spaces meant to keep students on-site and out of aging walk-ups.
Before any of that happens, the dorm and its mixed-use neighbor will still have to clear final approvals, secure financing, and move through city filings and community review. For now, the renderings and permit trail offer the clearest glimpse yet of how the sleepy parking lot across from Fordham could turn into a dense student hub over the next few years.
