$700 Million+ Harlem River Yards Mega-Project

A ginormous development project may soon be coming to the South Bronx waterfront. Dubbed Harlem River Yards, the mega-project plans to bring the City’s first dedicated soccer stadium, with 26,000 seats, designed by celebrated architect Rafael Viñoly. The total cost is projected at more than $700 million.

The partnership is comprised of The Related Cos., Somerset Partners, and the New York City Football Club, which would be the occupying team for the new stadium.

A tower dedicated to affordable housing will hold a 25,000 square foot medical facility at it's base, as well as 150,000 square feet of retail space. 

The residential tower will hold approximately 550 affordable apartments.

New York State must first build a deck over a 13-acre rail yard in the South Bronx to allow for a massive waterfront development. The depressed urban area has been attracting more and more private investment as land costs rise elsewhere in the city.

The parcel sits along the Harlem River, just north of the Willis Avenue Bridge. 

It is currently used as a transfer station to move goods between cross-country trains and trucks that traverse the tristate area—a use the state plans to maintain going forward.

The site is part of a 96-acre area called the Harlem River Yards, which is owned by state Department of Transportation and leased to a private company, which in turn leases out many of the buildings to industrial tenants.

Because the zone is governed by something called a general project plan, the state does not need to get any local approvals to change the zoning—say from manufacturing to residential or retail—which can instead be implemented through a state approval process.

In addition to maintaining the transfer station beneath the deck, the state wants proposals that cover opening access to the waterfront, boosting the local economy.

At 12.8 acres, the site is slightly less than half the size of the Hudson Yards development going up over rail yards on Manhattan's west side.