With numerous storage facilities in Community Board 12, members of the Land Use Committee opposed a developer constructing another one.
On Dec. 14, the Moore Consultancy Corporation presented the committee its plans to build an as of right banquet hall and a storage facility at 3536 Pear Tree Ave. in Eastchester that will require special zoning permit with the NYC Department of Planning because the property is zoned for manufacturing.
This vacant lot will be turned into a 4-story 77,407 square foot mixed use development with a 20,181 sq. foot banquet hall and a 57,226 sq. foot storage facility.
The storage will be located on the sub cellar, ground cellar, third and fourth floors and the banquet hall will be on the ground floor and accessed by an entry lobby at the corner of Pear Tree and Boston Rd. and have a proposed outdoor terrace rooftop. There will also be 96 parking spots.
“We thought this was a good location for a self storage,” said Dino Tomasetti, managing partner of Storage Fox. “We wouldn’t bring a storage facility into an area that does not need it.”
Tomasetti stressed he and his team are there to listen to the community.
However, many board members and attendees at the meeting were not fans of another storage facility. The board was surprised to discover that the only elected officials the developers spoke to about this was the ousted former Councilman Andy King, who they claim said this was needed for the area.
Board members like Ted James and John Isaac were among those who oppose the storage facility, citing there are already numerous in the northeast Bronx.
“I remember voting to stop storage facilities in this neighborhood,” Isaac said.
Land Use Chair Karl Stricker echoed their sentiments and is also not a supporter of the banquet hall.
“I’m dead set against the storage facility,” he stressed.
Others like Sydney Blair and Nicole Weir were not in favor of the banquet hall, but again that is as of right, so it is being built.
Blair felt that the community does not need a banquet hall as it has enough churches that could hold events.
Some suggested putting an office building there instead and Tomasetti said he will look into that and other options. They will return to the committee in January.
“We want to listen to what works for the community,” Tomasetti stated. “Talk with us and we’ll come up with something.”
