The Knolls Crescent shopping center,  has been the beating heart of the Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood since the 1950s. These shops have catered to the essential needs of approximately 11,000 residents, providing not only shopping  conveniences but also serving as a social and service hub. In light of the sustained growth in our neighborhood, it’s more vital than ever to preserve and enhance this critical community asset.

Recently, we've witnessed the unfortunate decline of Knolls Crescent shopping center, marked by the loss of several key retail establishments, including our anchor store, Rite Aid Pharmacy. This departure has left a significant void in our neighborhood, making it increasingly difficult for residents to access necessary services and goods conveniently.

The decline contrasts starkly with the sustained growth and vibrancy of our community, which should be fostering business, not witnessing closures. If our neighborhood continues to grow while our shopping corridor declines, it could shift our locale from bustling to barren, ultimately affecting the quality of life and property values.

Residents say the vacant storefronts are more than an inconvenience. They worry the empty spaces could lower property values and make it harder to sell their apartments.

According to Bronx Community Board 8,  monthly rents in the shopping center are about $9,000. “It may seem like it’s a small number of vacancies,” said Constance Barnes, of Community Board 8. “If people in that area depend solely on those stores, then it has a tremendous effect.”

Revitalizing Knolls Crescent Shopping Center is not only about reopening closed shops but strengthening the local economy through new business incentives, tax breaks for small business owners, and proactive recruitment of diverse retail establishments. 

For many years the two property Managers of Knolls Crescent shopping center have been unresponsive/unreceptive to calls to rent the vacant spaces in Knolls Crescent at monthly rents that are in keeping with that of a urban middle class neighborhood in an outer borough, NOT Madison Avenue.

The Spuyten Duyvil & Greater Riverdale Community petitions the principals and representatives of ABC Realty and Friedland Properties to meet with representatives of our community, to discuss how reasonable rents can be achieved so that vacant retail spaces can be filled sustainably.

PETITION FROM THE RESIDENTS OF SPUYTEN DUYVIL, GREATER RIVERDALE AND CONCERNED PARTIES IN FAVOR OF REVITALIZATION OF KNOLLS CRESENT RETAIL SHOPPING CENTER, Bronx, NY 10463

TO THE PRINCIPALS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF ABC REALTY AND FRIEDLAND PROPERTIES:

As residents of the Spuyten Duyvil and Greater Riverdale Community,  we request  that representatives of ABC Realty and Friedland Properties meet with a committee comprised of local residents, elected officials and  Bronx Community Board 8 members to discuss the potential of moderating rents in the Knolls Crescent shopping center so that they are truly in line with economy of our local demographic.

There are spaces in the Knolls Crescent shopping center that have remained empty for many years, which disproves the theory that achieving out-of-scale rents is simply a waiting game.  It is time to fill these spaces at rents that realistic, not purely aspirational. It is also time to restore the common areas of the shopping center from its current run down state with a pitted and dangerous parking lot.

We gratefully await your response to engage in this productive conversation.  We are certain that filling the empty retail spaces at the Knolls, and improving its infrastructure will prove to be a win-win for all stakeholders: Property Management, Lease Holders, current and future and resident/consumers of Spuyten Duyvil/Greater Riverdale.

Thank you.