By DAVID CRUZ 

The eagle has landed at the Bronx’s biggest business improvement district.

Shoppers at the Fordham Road Business Improvement District, where an estimated 80,000 people bypass the corridor daily, recently noticed the soft opening of American Eagle Outfitters.

The high-end clothing retail store opened its doors with little fanfare, settling just across the street from another mega-clothing retail store, The GAP.  The store is known for its chic graphic-Ts, low-cut jeans and Henley shirts, catering mostly to the age 15 to 25 demographic.  The apparel store’s pick of Fordham is fitting, given Fordham University is just blocks away.

Wilma Alonso, executive director of the BID, sees this as “a validation of the trust as a prime shopping destination in the Bronx.”  In recent years, Alonso has noticed an uptick in the number of national retailers choosing Fordham as the next neighborhood in which to do business.  Last year, the BID welcomed Burlington Coat Factory, adding it to its line of 300 stores that pepper the BID.

“Fordham has been transformed from being a local neighborhood of 99 cent stores to a more trendy location that will attract more people,” said Alonso.

But welcoming stores is just one aspect of the BID that runs from East Fordham Road and Jerome Avenue, ending at Fordham Road and Webster Avenue.  Alonso, sharing the duties with co-executive director Daniel Bernstein, has her hand in several projects that include sprucing up the look of the neighborhood, introducing a wireless Internet system and creating a marketing campaign to draw younger shoppers.  Their biggest endeavor involves expanding the BID’s borders to One Fordham Plaza, home to an Applebees, TJ Maxx, and offices.

The Fordham BID functions much the same as all the others.  It is often a promotional vehicle that maintains the look of the district.  Funding for the BID comes in the form of a BID Assessment, a special tax on property owners who usually pass the cost on to the consumer.  Because of the BID’s high presence, property owners have gradually raised rents on business tenants, eroding some of the mom and pop store presence.

“Our commercial square footage price is very high,” said Alonso.  “But also what comes with that is 80,000 people coming every 12 hours.”

Merchants can also benefit from the BID’s geography.  The strip stretches along one of the busiest thoroughfares in the Bronx, a nexus of travel that includes four subway lines, six bus lines, and a Metro-North station that ushers in plenty of out-of-towners.

In an area where shoppers arrive, thieves are not too far behind.  Grand larcenies are still the number one crime in the area, with pickpockets often lurking around each holiday season.  Veteran NYPD officers from the 46th, 47th and 52nd precincts often patrol the area, adding to the “presence” as Alonso sees it.  She downplayed the crime, citing the low percentage of crime when compared to the high traffic going through the area.  “In every neighborhood where there’s a commercial strip like that, you will find that in Times Square, you will find that at 34th Street, you will find that in Chinatown.  Those things are going to take place, but it doesn’t reflect the neighborhood not being safe.”

Alonso and Bernstein are still working to gather funding for extra security cameras to complement the NYPD’s already existing 24-hour cameras.  With cameras, promotional programs, and beautification projects in store, Alonso admits the BID will be quite busy this year.

“The list will never end.  If it ends, that means I’ll be out of a job,” she laughed.