The Bronx’s Mott Haven lures businesses, residents with low property prices

In the last two decades, the Bronx has ranked as the fastest-growing part of New York City for new businesses, thanks in part to low residential property prices and low commercial rents, Crain’s reported. And that is especially true of Mott Haven, a neighborhood bounded from north to South By 138th Street to Bruckner Boulevard, and from the east to west by St. Ann’s Avenue and Third Avenue.

For example, in Mott Haven, $1,600 per month rents a 350-square-foot shop. The average price for a one- or two-family house in 2012 was $250,000. Similar homes in Harlem, the closest Manhattan neighborhood, commanded an average of $1 million to $2 million.

“It’s worth the swim,” appraiser Jonathan Miller told Crain’s of Mott Haven.

In the 20-year span between 1991 and 2011, the Bronx as a whole saw quadruple the number of new business incorporations: A total of 4,690, according to the non-profit Center for an Urban Future.

But, as opposed to parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan that are seeing an uptick in start-up tech companies, the Bronx is seeing more bars, day cares and barber shops. [Crain’s] —Zachary Kussin