Dynamic Star acquires Bronx riverfront parcel for $31.5M
320 West Fordham Road is the area south of the bridge along the riverfront (Photo: Google)
Brad Zackson hired Greenberg Traurig to plan, lobby for a rezoning of this and 11 neighboring parcels
By Adam Pincus
UPDATED 3:25 p.m. April 4: Dynamic Star, a Connecticut-based development firm led by Gary Segal that counts Brad Zackson as director of development, acquired a parcel in the Bronx this week for $31.5 million that has an address of 320 West Fordham Road, on the east side of the Harlem River.
The sellers of the University Heights land were a group of individuals from the Lasala and other families, city records and sources revealed.
The sale comes as the Bronx continues to attract investment dollars, even as some express concern that long-time residents won’t be able to afford the new homes.
It’s unclear how the land will be used. The property was marketed as Fordham Landing for $30 million in 2014, and ultimately sold at a small premium above that. The site could reportedly hold 515,140 square feet residential or 973,375 if including community facility.
“Dynamic Star has purchased the site at 320 West Fordham Road. Plans for the site have not been determined. We look forward to working closely with the local community, elected officials, and appropriate city and state agencies and authorities as we pursue development of the site,” Gary Segal, Dynamic Star president and CEO, said in a statement.
Zackson and attorneys from Greenberg Traurig’s land use team are working to rezone the parcel and a swath of neighboring lots, filings from New York City’s Lobbying Bureau show. The partners are paid as much as $1,110 per hour, the filings, from late 2018, show.
Dynamic Star is trying to rezone 12 tax lots: in block 3244, lots 1, 2, 145, 125, 100, 120 and 130; In block 3245, lot 3; and in block 3231, lots 1, 227, 265 and 350. The parcel that sold at 320 West Fordham Road was block 3231, lot 265.
Dynamic Star’s twitter account calls Fordham Landing “a life science center for the cell and gene therapy industry.”
The sellers were represented by a team from JLL that included Karl Brumback, Robert Knakal and Jonathan Hageman.
Zackson is a protege of Donald Trump’s father Fred Trump, and has been at the center of ambitious deals that floundered. In 2008, Zackson and Paul Manafort sought to buy the Drake Hotel site, which is now home to Harry Macklowe and CIM Group’s 432 Park Avenue. Others succeeded, such as several large projects in Long Island City.
Updated with statement from Dynamic Star.