A new eight-story residential building is headed for 65 West 181st Street in University Heights, with permits now on file for a project that would bring 69 residences to a stretch of the Bronx just steps from the subway. The proposed structure would rise 80 feet and include 37,014 square feet of residential space, with a 20-foot-long rear yard built into its concrete frame.
According to New York YIMBY, the site sits between Aqueduct Avenue East and Grand Avenue, close enough to the 183rd Street subway station that future residents could walk to the 4 train. Shimshon Grunstein of AFS Systems Inc. is listed as the owner behind the applications, while Nikolai Katz Architect appears as the architect of record. No demolition permits have been filed yet, and the outlet reports that an estimated completion date has not been announced.
Small Units Point Toward Rental Housing
The math behind the unit count suggests where this project is headed. With 69 residences carved out of 37,014 square feet, the average unit comes out to 536 square feet apiece, a size that, per the same account, points toward rentals rather than condos.
That pattern isn't unique to this address. A few blocks away, permits filed for a seven-story building at 2216 Aqueduct Avenue would bring 25 units averaging 690 square feet each, which Bronx Times likewise describes as likely rentals. That project, located between Buchanan Place and West 182nd Street and also near the 183rd Street station, is owned by Plungeri LLC, with Jakov Saric of Node Architecture, Engineering, Consulting P.C. listed as architect of record. Its plans include a 36-foot rear yard and eight open parking spaces.
A Pattern Taking Shape Across University Heights
Just down the block from that one, permits for a six-story, 20-unit building at 2290 Aqueduct Avenue East tell a similar story. Bronx Times reports that building would stand 58 feet tall with 14,567 square feet of space, and the 20 planned residences, averaging 728 square feet, are described as most likely rentals as well. Demolition permits for the two-story structure already on that lot were filed earlier in September, and the applications list Frank Lumaj of Paramount Homes Management alongside Jakov Saric as architect of record. Residents there would have both the 183rd Street and Fordham Road stations nearby, each served by the 4 train.
Taken together, the three filings suggest a steady push to add housing stock along this corridor of University Heights, where proximity to the 4 train appears to be a draw for developers. New York YIMBY's own annual tally found the Bronx led all boroughs in 2025 with 14,708 proposed residential and hotel units, and the outlet's first-quarter 2026 construction report noted a 21-percent jump in the borough's average floor area per permit filing compared with the prior year's quarterly average.
For now, the 65 West 181st Street project remains in the early filing stage, with no demolition permit and no completion timeline on record. Whether it moves forward on the same track as its Aqueduct Avenue neighbors will depend on steps still to come.
