Bronx County Highpoint Trip Report
Date: March 25, 2007
Author: Michael Schwartz
I checked out the situation in the Bronx. Not much seems to have changed.
There is still massive excavating, debris, and nothing built above foundation level.
The fence has a black fabric barrier to reduce the eyesore but it's easy
enough to peak through holes. I picked up a local free newspaper and,
by coincidence, there was an article about an upcoming local planning board hearing
on the subject of the construction. The project was first known as Chapel Farm,
has been changed by the developer to Villanova Estates but both names are in use.
It seems that the project is dragging and now the developer wants six more
years to complete a build of sixteen houses at no more than three per year.
If you want to visit before the development is complete and the inevitable
locked gate is built, I'd suggest going there on a workday when the construction
gate at the end of Grosvenor Road is open. I'd just stroll or drive in like I
owned the place but I suppose one could trust in the good will of the workers
and try to obtain permission. On Sunday, at least, the gate is padlocked,
although I could have easily squeezed under it in a more svelte incarnation.
I will try to stop by at least once a year to check out the latest.
Access through the former gate is impossible. For now, as you come into the
Fieldston Community on 246th Street, take a left at the first intersection
(five corners) onto Grosvenor Road and follow it all the way to the end at the
construction gate.