A vacant lot at 1456 East Gun Hill Road in Pelham Gardens is now the site of a filed permit application for a four-story residential building with 22 apartments, located just blocks from the Gun Hill Road subway station. The project, situated between Fenton Avenue and O'Neill Place, would rise 55 feet and add a notable chunk of new housing to a neighborhood that has seen relatively little residential construction in recent years.
According to New York YIMBY, the applications list Janise Ruiz, affiliated with Shobro Management, as the owner behind the filing. The proposed building would yield 13,197 square feet of residential space, with units averaging 599 square feet — a scope that, per the outlet, makes the residences most likely to be rentals. Plans also call for a penthouse, a 20-foot-long rear yard, and a concrete-based structure.
Lester Katz of XPdite Group LLC is listed as the architect of record. The same outlet's filing notes show Katz has been active across the Bronx this year, having also filed for an eight-story, 35-unit building at 720 Elton Avenue in Melrose and a seven-story, 52-unit project at 2609 Marion Avenue in Fordham, according to Marketproof. No estimated completion date has been announced for the Gun Hill Road project, and while demolition permits will likely be needed for the lot, none have been confirmed.
A Century-Old Lot Cleared for New Construction
The lot is currently vacant, but it wasn't always empty. Department of Buildings permit filings reviewed by Marketproof show the site previously held a two-story, 6,188-square-foot building erected in 1910 before giving way to the current four-story residential proposal. That shift — from a century-old structure to a modern multi-family filing — mirrors a broader transition playing out on scattered lots across the borough as older, low-rise buildings are replaced with denser housing.
The Gun Hill Road Station, served by the 5 train, sits within walking distance of the proposed building, offering direct transit access to Manhattan. Local geographic surveys describe Pelham Gardens as bounded to the north and east by East Gun Hill Road, with the IRT Dyre Avenue Line forming its western edge along The Esplanade, according to CityNeighborhoods.NYC.
A Neighborhood Built on Homeownership Faces New Density
Pelham Gardens has long stood apart from much of the Bronx for its owner-occupied character. Roughly 60% to 65% of the neighborhood's 15,000 residents own their homes, according to Niche, a sharp contrast to the renter-majority makeup found across most of the borough. Real estate data from DoorProfit places the neighborhood's median home value above $640,000 and median monthly rent around $1,988 — figures that position Pelham Gardens among the pricier residential enclaves in the Bronx.
That homeownership-heavy profile has coincided with a historically slow pace of new housing. Planning data from Bronx Community Board 11 shows the district's population grew by more than 6,400 residents between 2010 and 2020, even as the area averaged fewer than 50 new dwelling units per year — one of the lowest construction rates in New York City. A 22-unit infill project, in that context, represents a meaningful addition to the area's housing stock.
Zoning Reform Opens the Door for Transit-Adjacent Density
The filing arrives amid a citywide push to encourage exactly this kind of transit-adjacent housing. The New York City Council passed the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity zoning text amendment in December 2024, updating 60-year-old rules with the goal of enabling an estimated 80,000 new housing units over 15 years by allowing greater density near subway lines. Under the plan's Universal Affordability Preference framework, developers in mid-to-high density residential zones can also secure floor area bonuses by setting aside affordable units averaging at or below 60% of Area Median Income, according to Ariel Property Advisors. It remains unconfirmed whether the Gun Hill Road project will include any affordable units under that program.
Community District 11 has seen other efforts to expand its housing options in recent years. In August 2022, NYC Housing Preservation and Development and NYC Health + Hospitals launched the Just Home initiative at 1900 Seminole Avenue, converting a vacant Jacobi Hospital building into 70 supportive housing units for formerly incarcerated patients. The Gun Hill Road proposal is a different kind of project — market-rate infill rather than supportive housing — but it adds to a pattern of new residential activity slowly reshaping a district long defined by single-family homes and modest turnover.
Key details about the Pelham Gardens project remain unresolved, including a construction timeline, whether the units will carry any affordability set-asides, and finalized architectural renderings. For now, the filing marks an early but concrete step toward reshaping a vacant corner of East Gun Hill Road that has sat empty since its 1910-era building came down.
