The Bronx’s sprawling Parkchester community, once thought of as a “planning phenomenon” during its development in the late 1930s and 40s, served as an early model for Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village and Riverton Houses.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. initially proposed the 171-building “city-within-a-city” during the 1939 New York World’s Fair, which was later completed in 1942 despite building restrictions during World War II. The development, which takes its name from the nearby Park Versailles and Westchester Heights neighborhoods, was the largest “privately built planned community” upon its completion and quickly became a haven for returning veterans and their families.
The Helmsley Organization purchased Parkchester in 1968 and subsequently converted it into separate condominiums during the 70s and 80s. However, the development later fell into a state of neglect and disrepair, desperately in need of millions of dollars worth of rehabilitation.
Lacking the necessary funds for a major revitalization effort, the condominiums turned to the Community Preservation Corp. (CPC) to help finance redevelopment of the complex. This rehabilitation project cost more than $250 million and included large-scale projects such as the installation of more than 65,000 new windows, the electrical re-wiring of all 12,271 units, and the redevelopment of commercial spaces.
Working with the CPC and developers Morton Olshan and Jeremiah O’Connor, Leonard Grunstein negotiated the acquisition and created the unique financing device that enabled redevelopment.
As a result, Parkchester is once again a thriving neighborhood appealing to moderate- and middle income families, drawing residents with its wide, tree-lined walkways, green spaces, and playgrounds. Once largely Eastern European and Irish Catholic, the complex’s affordable prices have attracted middle- and working-class ethnic minorities from the West Indies, Latin America, and East and South Asia.
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Tagged: Acquisition, Condominium, Len Grunstein, Leonard Grunstein, Parkchester, Redevelopment
Leonard Grunstein 
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