The South Bronx Looks to Bring in Big-Name Retailers

The South Bronx is looking to attract new retailers and developers to its shopping center known as "The Hub."

 

 

The South Bronx Economic Development Corporation (SoBro) partnered with the Third Avenue Business Improvement District, or BID, on Thursday to showcase some of the neighborhood's available properties. The event provided on-site marketing analysis and local vacancy listings for businesses.

 

BID Executive Director Vincent Valentino says they have big plans for the area. "We not only want to improve business. We want to make The Hub area a destination area. You come here shopping with your families, you could go to a movie, you could go to a nice restaurant, and you could shop."

 

Jamila Diaz is SoBro's director of commercial and industrial development. She says the group surveyed residents to see what types of stores they want to see around The Hub's 149th Street and Third Avenue neighborhood. 

 

Diaz says SoBro plans to use this data to show big-name retailers they'd fit well in The Hub. "Our goal for today is to try to show Old Navy, GAP, that there's a place in the Bronx for them. It's not only in Manhattan. "

 

Diaz added that area has already seen new gyms and banks in the neighborhood.