Stagg's Cannon Place plans worry neighbors

The Stagg Group is moving to build a 10-story apartment building with 121 units near a retaining wall holding up Cannon Place in Fort Independence, though residents are wary of what they described as the developer’s duplicitous tactics.

Former Borough President Adolfo Carrión, who works as a consultant representing Stagg to the community, recently presented the developer’s plans at two meetings with local elected officials and members of the Fort Independence Neighborhood Association (FIPNA), which previously fought back another developer’s plans at 3469 Cannon Place.

“For us, the balance is getting as much in there as possible while at the same time ensuring that we improve the quality of life in the neighborhood,” Mr. Carrión said in a brief phone interview on Tuesday.

But Northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and FIPNA members have a range of problems with the Stagg Group’s plans.

“It’s a horrible plan as currently proposed,” Mr. Dinowitz said in a phone interview. “Cannon Place is a very narrow, not heavily travelled street. And to make the main entrance on Cannon Place would bring in a lot of traffic, deliveries, people pulling up to drop off their groceries or whatever, and that just doesn’t make sense.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Carrión said “the entrance point” is in fact on Fort Independence Avenue.

FIPNA leader Kristin Hart said that Cannon Place’s recently rebuilt retaining wall could not support a building of the magnitude the Stagg Group plans to construct.

She added that her association is not opposed to affordable housing in the neighborhood, but wants to make sure it is not affordable in name only. Stagg Group is planning an “80-20” mix of market-rate and affordable one-bedroom units.

“We wish it was real affordable housing,” Ms. Hart said. “We’re worried the rents in this building are too high. If it’s $2,000 for 700 square feet [per unit], that doesn’t make sense for anybody.”