A 12-story residential building with 53 apartments is headed for 1884 University Avenue in Morris Heights, where developer Yidel Weinberger has filed initial permit applications for a site tucked between West Burnside Avenue and Morton Place. The proposed building would rise 115 feet and yield 29,204 square feet of residential space, with an average unit size of 551 square feet — a scope that suggests the apartments will most likely be rentals. No demolition permits have been filed yet, and there is no announced estimated completion date.
The filing was officially submitted on August 27, according to real estate publication PincusCo, ahead of broader media coverage of the project. As New York YIMBY reports, the planned structure will use a concrete-based design and include a 20-foot-long rear yard, with Leandro Nils Dickson Architect listed as architect of record. The site sits near the Burnside Avenue subway station, served by the 4 train, giving future residents a direct transit link into the city.
How the Site Became Big Enough to Build On
Getting to a 12-story footprint on this narrow 41-foot-wide lot wasn't straightforward. Invictus Property Advisors, which brokered the site, reported in August 2024 that the parcel included 12,982 buildable square feet of air rights assembled from an adjacent lot, pushing total as-of-right development potential to 29,546 buildable square feet — and as much as 33,728 buildable square feet if the developer opts into the Universal Affordability Preference program. The brokerage put the transaction price at roughly $80 per buildable square foot.
Before the site could even hit the market, Invictus said its brokers had to work with expeditors to fix an erroneous Single Room Occupancy restriction sitting in Department of Buildings records, reclassifying the parcel to Class A status with both DOB and HPD. SRO designations bar multi-family redevelopment unless formally cleared, meaning that administrative cleanup was a prerequisite step long before Weinberger's crews could even think about pouring concrete.
An Architect With a Busy Bronx Portfolio
Leandro Nils Dickson Architect isn't a stranger to volume filings. The Real Deal ranked the firm among New York City's most active architecture practices in December 2024, based on its sheer number of initial permit filings for multi-family residential projects. Commercial Observer reported in August 2026 that Dickson is simultaneously designing three proposed 12- and 13-story residential buildings for Westbridge Realty Group in Soundview, each capped at 99 units to take advantage of state tax incentive structures — a sign of how deeply the firm is embedded in the current wave of Bronx mid-rise construction.
Whether the Morris Heights project will lean on similar tax incentive mechanisms, such as 485-x, or on the city's Universal Affordability Preference bonus, remains an open question; no financing details have been disclosed. The UAP program, enacted by the City Council in December 2024 as part of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, lets medium- and high-density developments claim a 20% floor area bonus in exchange for setting aside permanently affordable units averaging 60% of Area Median Income, according to the NYC Department of City Planning.
Part of a Broader Morris Heights Building Wave
The proposal lands in a neighborhood where renting isn't just common — it's overwhelming. Census data published by Data USA shows 95.55% of housing units in Bronx Community District 5, which covers Morris Heights and Mount Hope, were renter-occupied in 2024, with just 4.45% owner-occupied. A 53-unit rental building fits squarely into that pattern.
It's also not an isolated filing. Hoodline previously reported on plans for another Morris Heights property, at 1855 Harrison Avenue, where a developer filed to replace a 116-year-old single-family home with a four-story, 17-unit rental building totaling 8,604 square feet. Just last month, Hoodline reported that an affordable housing lottery opened nearby for 169 apartments at Starhill Phase II, a six-story building from Bronx Pro Group and Services for the UnderServed, with rents starting at $777 per month for households earning 40% of Area Median Income.
The neighborhood is also on the radar for infrastructure change. Hoodline reported in March 2025 that city officials unveiled a plan to cap sections of the depressed Cross Bronx Expressway, aiming to reconnect severed West Bronx neighborhoods including Morris Heights and Highbridge. Between the expressway proposal, the affordable housing lottery, and now the 1884 University Avenue filing, Morris Heights is emerging as one of the more actively reshaped corners of the West Bronx — even as basic questions about financing and timeline for the new tower remain unanswered.
