Castle Hill: A quiet waterfront Bronx community

Known mostly as a densely populated neighborhood with the hustle and bustle of trains, traffic and people crisscrossing paths, Castle Hill has quietly undergone a transformation that has left it more suburban.

It’s a resurging blue-collar to middle-class neighborhood in the Bronx, easily accessible by the 6 train and the Cross Bronx and Bruckner expressways. For the past 10 to 15 years, the nabe has blossomed with new construction of one-, two- and three-family homes, especially at its southern tip.

That was encouraged by a tax break created by the city in 1971, according to nyc.gov, under which new homeowners are excluded from paying property taxes for roughly the first 20 years of ownership.

That made the area attractive to new homebuyers who wanted a suburban neighborhood without facing the high property taxes on Long Island.

“If I describe Castle Hill to potential homeowners or renters, I would let them know that they are moving to a neighborhood on the rise,” Coffy Bailey, a real estate agent with nearby Exit Realty Power, said.

In addition to prospective homeowners, many former residents are looking to move back to Castle Hill, where they’ll find more affordable homes, Bailey said.
Recent sales, according to Exit Realty, show the median cost of one-family homes is about $255,000, and two-family homes are about $357,000.

There are still houses around from World War II that add character to the area. They complement the numerous buildings housing rental apartments, including the Castle Hill Housing development.

According to nycgov parks.org, Castle Hill Neck, the neighborhood’s original designation, came from Adriaen Block, a 17th century New Netherland Company explorer, who thought that the fortified Siwanoy Native American village resembled a castle.

In the early 1920s, Castle Hill was home to European immigrants looking to escape the packed conditions of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Twenty years ago, residents were mostly black and Hispanic, and the nabe has been getting more diverse since.

“I love the fact that we have many diverse groups here. We get to experience the different cultural lifestyles of different people,” said Francisco Gonzalez, who has served as district manager of Community Board 9 for the past 20 years.

While Castle Hill had a rough patch with drugs and crime in the 1980s, like most of NYC, locals say it’s a great place to live.

“I feel safe,” said Janeya Anderson, an 18-year-old resident and a Borough of Manhattan Community College freshman. “It’s not that noisy and I like the community.”

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Directly opposite some Castle Hill residents, and off the shore of Westchester Creek, is a collection of vacant two-family homes known as the Vistamar Complex, at 261 Zerega Ave.

Residents complain that there is suspicious activity going on at the unpopulated complex.

Angel Pomale, a 72-year-old retiree and 12-year resident, said a security guard should be posted 24 hours a day.

Despite the gates that block off the development, Pomale said the activity makes people in the neighborhood uneasy.

“People come in and out as if they’re working in construction,” he said.

Another homeowner, who asked not to be identified, said “undesirables” enter and exit the property late at night and agreed that the lack of security is a big concern to homeowners.

According to the New York Department of Finance, 18 houses were already built on the property but none of them have been sold.

“We just want them to come over here and do something about it,” Pomale said.

Vistamar Complex LTD could not be reached for comment despite numerous attempts on the phone and in person.

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Abraham Schwartz is a retired plumber from the MTA’s Structure Maintainer Division, where he worked for 20 years. He and his wife, Altagracia, moved here from Stuyvesant Town more than 12 years ago. They have raised two children.

I like that Castle Hill is quiet and there’s very little traffic.

We wanted to buy a house and we also wanted to be close to my wife’s business, DJ Hair Salon.

Yes, we had no electricity for six days. We used flashlights to get around the house.

Yes, it does cross my mind; it’s very scary to think about.

The only thing they have to change is the cars and motorcycles that race up and down here at the end of Castle Hill Avenue.

I would tell them it’s a nice place to live and to bring up your kids.