“Right now, the Bronx is prime real estate. Prime, prime real estate.”

Those are the words of Joseph Governali, a Norwood resident and realty investor who said he recently entered into contract to purchase four homes in Bedford Park. Governali and his Brooklyn-based partner, Emmanuel Marshall, are part of a larger movement of investors and developers buying up Bronx homes, and tearing them down to replace them with tall buildings, exploiting existing zoning laws.

The section of Bedford Park–bordered by Grand Concourse, Mosholu Parkway, East 198th Street and Webster Avenue–saw 28 properties sold between January and August of 2018 (see second graphic), according to data provided by ATTOM Data Solutions and analyzed by the Norwood News. These include private homes, duplex, triplex, and quad-plex properties. Many of these homes were purchased by limited liability corporations, a tactic used by developers. Over the same period in 2017 (see first graphic), only nine properties within that same area were sold.

For Bedford Park residents, real estate developer interest is hardly new. In 2016, notorious developer Peter Fine got into a prolonged legal battle with tenants of a small apartment building at 267 E. 202nd St. Eventually, a fire forced tenants out anyway while a lawsuit was settled.

Lois Harr and her husband John Reilly lived at 257 E. 202nd St., two homes down from Fine’s property. Fine had bought up the neighboring houses and was planning the construction of a 12-story apartment building.

But Fine is not the only developer interested in the area. Carlos Melendez, the owner of a home at 3000 Perry Ave., told the Norwood News he was repeatedly pestered by phone calls from real estate solicitors over the last six months. According to Melendez, the solicitors initially offered him $600,000 and then $725,000.

“Then they told me that the next-door house, they offered them 800,000,” Melendez said. “I asked why don’t you offer me this money? They told me they wanted to take both houses and build a new structure here.”

Even after he told them to stop calling and that he was not interested in selling his house, they persisted. “I told him, ‘look, I don’t want to sell, but if you give me a million dollars then I’ll sell it,’” Melendez said. “And he told me, ‘what, you think your house is made out of gold?’”

Melendez is a Vietnam War veteran, having served in the Army for 21 years, and retired from his position at the post office nine years ago. He has no interest in selling his home, which New York City Department of Finance tax assessors value at $513,000. Instead, he wants to leave his home to his children.

Around the corner from Melendez is homeowner Ella Santos, who told the Norwood News she receives mailers two or three times a month offering cash for houses. Developers are constantly spotted in the neighborhood, approaching residents on foot.

It could explain why Santos was wary when Governali approached her outside her home and inquired about its history. Governali insisted he was not interested in tearing her house down but admiring the history of the century old residence. Santos did not believe him and even recounted her conversation with him at a Bedford Mosholu Community Association meeting on Sept. 5.

“He says, ‘I’m a historian,’” Santos said. “But then he gives me his card and it says he’s a developer.”

Turns out the card actually said “realty investor” with Governali’s name on it. Real estate investing is just one aspect of Governali’s professional background, he said. He’s also interested in shipwreck exploration, particularly the H.M.S. Hussar, in the East River.

The properties he was interested in purchasing on Bedford Park Boulevard and Briggs Avenue got the hard sell from Governali.

“When I approached 261 Bedford [Ave], basically what I said to them was, ‘how does this feel to sit on the lottery ticket?’” Governalis said. “I said, ‘My friend, the Bronx is prime real estate and your property alone? Forget about it.’”

Governali said he is in contract with four homes, but could not produce any paperwork to substantiate his claims. The homeowners could not be reached at the time of publication. Governali is negotiating with the homeowners on behalf of a “hedge fund” called Arena Holdings LLC.

Governali said he approached Fine’s company, Atlantic Development Group, about a possible partnership, but they wanted to build low-income housing. Governali would rather build luxury apartments or housing for college students at Fordham University, Lehman College, or one of the other nearby academic institutions. “There’s so many features and history here and to take that and just demolish it and to put low-income housing, it’s horrible,” Governali told the Norwood News.

He added, “If you have low-income housing, then the income is obviously low income so you’re not going to have any kind of retail establishment that’s going to be catering to those people. Why would you want to do something like that for? Just to make a dollar? That’s not right. You don’t do that. Go to your own neighborhood and do that. Don’t do that here.”

As for Harr and Reilly, the pair spent two years standing their ground before ultimately deciding living next to a major construction site was not worth it. In May, they sold to Fine.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.