South Bronx hotel business rebounds with new offerings

The South Bronx has offered up few lodging destinations since the luxury Concourse Plaza Hotel at 161st Street and Grand Concourse closed in 1974. But now, with the opening of the luxury boutique Opera House Hotel at 436 East 149th Street last August and the Umbrella Hotel slated to Open 681 Elton Avenue this fall, the area’s hotel industry is on the rebound.

The pair are the latest in a string of lodgings to sprout in The Area Since Bed And Breakfast Mi Casa Tu Casa Opened On East 150th StreetAnd The Grand Concourse On East 150th Street in 2006. Four years later, in 2010, Days Inn opened a hotel in northern Melrose on Brook Avenue and 165th Street, and the Andrew Freedman Home at 1125 Grand Concourse soon followed suit with a bed and breakfast in the southern wing of its landmark building in 2012.

When the Opera House Hotel, housed in the old Bronx Opera House, joined the scene last year, the property brought the borough its first luxury boutique hotel since 1974. Within four months, Opera House had registered over 5,000 guests.

Another 12-story hotel is currently under construction in the Lower Concourse Rezoning District at 500 Exterior Street, and will ultimately hold between 80 and 90 rooms. [welcome2thebronx] — Julie Strickland