Vacant Fordham Heights Lot to Become 12-Unit Rental Building Near Fordham Road Hub

A vacant lot at 333 East 188th Street in Fordham Heights is set to become a four-story residential building with 12 rental units, according to new permit filings with the city. The 2,198-square-foot site sits between East Fordham Road and East 188th Street, just steps from the Fordham Road subway station, and has stood empty while the surrounding block underwent its own transformation.

The applications, filed under the ownership entity East 188 LLC, list Fran Mrizaj as the owner representative behind the project, as reported by New York YIMBY. The proposed masonry-based building would rise 52 feet and include 6,628 square feet of residential space, topped with a penthouse level. Chad Firmstone of C2B Architects PC is listed as architect of record, and no estimated completion date has been announced.

The 12 residences would average 552 square feet each, a scope that points toward rental units rather than condos, per the same outlet's reporting. No demolition permits appear necessary since the lot is already vacant. East 188 LLC purchased the site for $675,000 on April 24, 2026, after it had been listed in January for $699,999, according to Compass. Foundation and earthwork applications tied to the project were filed with the NYC Department of Buildings in August, per Marketproof, suggesting site preparation is already underway beyond the initial paperwork.

Zoning Allows Mid-Density Development on a Small Footprint

The 0.05-acre parcel is zoned R7-1, which permits roughly 7,560 buildable square feet of residential development, according to Compass. That zoning designation is common across the West Bronx and typically supports the kind of mid-density apartment buildings now rising on infill lots throughout the borough.

Architect Chad Firmstone and C2B Architects PC have handled similar small-footprint projects before, including a 12-unit building at 61 Buchanan Place in University Heights and a 34-unit building at 3498 Fort Independence Street in Kingsbridge Heights, according to the Norwood News. The firm's track record with compact Bronx rental buildings suggests familiarity with the constraints of building on tight vacant lots like this one.

Transit Access Meets a Severe Rental Squeeze

The site's location near the Fordham Road transit hub, which connects to the B and D subway lines and multiple local bus routes along Grand Concourse, makes it attractive for small-unit rental development, as previously reported by Hoodline. That proximity to transit is a key driver of rental demand in Fordham Heights, where housing is already stretched thin.

In City Council District 14, which includes Fordham Heights, 93.5% of residents are renters and the median household income sits at $39,231, according to the New York Housing Conference. The district's rental vacancy rate stands at just 1.1%, while 59.2% of renters are considered rent-burdened, with 36.0% spending more than half their income on housing. Real median gross rents in the broader Fordham and University Heights area climbed more than 30% between 2000 and 2019 even as household incomes stayed flat, the Bronx Times has reported.

Part of a Wider Bronx Infill Pattern

The 333 East 188th Street filing fits into a broader 2026 pattern of developers submitting small-scale, four-to-six-story infill applications on vacant Bronx lots, including an 18-unit proposal in Morrisania and a 10-unit proposal in West Farms. Many of these projects, Hoodline has noted, yield smaller rental units averaging under 600 square feet, closely mirroring the unit sizes planned here.

Just blocks away, the city has been investing in public space along the same corridor. Webster Playground, near East 188th Street, underwent a $1.45 million reconstruction that added new greenery and public facilities along the Cross Bronx Expressway, part of the broader Park-Webster Neighborhood Plan. Whether the new rental units at 333 East 188th Street will be priced within reach of local households earning a median income under $40,000 remains an open question, one that has shadowed similar infill projects across the neighborhood.