Baychester Square is a pedestrian focused open air shopping, dining and recreation destination that will also contain 180 units of senior affordable housing. The project, with a retail leasable area of approximately 350,000 square feet, is located at the easterly terminus of Gun Hill Road. The architectural vision for Baychester Square, has been inspired by traditional town squares where people gather to socialize, share a meal with friends and family, take a casual walk, window shop and people watch. Baychester Square is organized around 2.4 acres of walkable and landscaped open space including two town squares bisected by pedestrian only streets running perpendicular to East Gun Hill Road and connected to each other by another pedestrian only street running parallel to Edson Avenue. A walkable retail environment provides a great amenity for the senior residents.

Baychester Square meets several very important needs articulated by the community. The first is an expansion of retail choices, the second is much needed affordable housing for seniors and the third is the elimination of perennial blight in the form of an abandoned golf driving range.  Although the local market is currently served by an indoor mall (Bay Plaza Mall) strip retail centers and big boxes such as Home Depot, residents in the Baychester Square market do not have access to the same goods and services that residents enjoy in nearby communities. According to NYC EDC approximately $1.7 billion is currently expended in lower Westchester by Bronx residents who live within a three mile radius of Baychester Square.  This impact on the local economy is felt in terms of both lost tax revenue as well as lost local jobs. 

Baychester Square, being developed by Grid Properties and Gotham Organization two very experienced retail developers, is not a mall. It features approximately 4,000 linear feet of transparent storefront at ground level maximizing interaction between consumers and a mix of local, regional and national specialty retailers, food and other complementary uses. Larger retailers will be located on the second floor with their own ground level access. There is a shortage of good retail space in the market with a 2% vacancy rate compared to a city wide average of 10%. More than 125 retailers who are not currently in the market have expressed interest in Baychester Square’s approximately 45 retail spaces. There will be 1,169 parking spaces divided between surface parking and indoor parking. As part of facilitating a positive customer experience and minimizing traffic congestion parking will be free for the first several hours. In addition to retail uses Baychester Square will be home to a business resource lab to assist local entrepreneurs in sourcing start-up capital and networking for business opportunities.

The project site, currently owned by the City and under the auspices of MTA, is zoned for manufacturing with no residential uses permitted. MTA in conjunction with EDC identified the site as surplus real estate and conducted a public bid process to obtain fair market value for the site. The team of Grid Properties and Gotham Organization was selected among ten submissions. All of the proposals deemed acceptable by the City required a change in the zoning of the site to match the existing zoning of the Bay Plaza Mall on the opposite side of The New England Thruway.