South Bronx luxury rental tries to resuscitate brash ‘Piano District’ moniker

A two-building rental development in Mott Haven, calling itself “The Crescendo,” is now offering up its 130 apartments from $2,200 per month. The project, located at 25 Bruckner Boulevard, comes with a mix of studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedrooms, with apartments on the upper end asking $3,900 per month.

The project was made public last fall, but the apartment count seems to have dropped from 190 to the current 130. Some of the features of the apartments here include the stone countertops, stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, wooden floors, and dishwashers in each of the units.

The Karl Fischer-designed building also features a host of amenities including a swimming pool, a steam room & sauna, a rooftop barbecue grill and tanning area, and a recreation room that comes with a fireplace, a pool table, and a kitchen, among others. Here are some photos from one of the model apartments at the rental development:

The two six-story buildings that make up “The Crescendo,” also have their own names: “Staccato,” and “Legato.” These musical references are seemingly a nod to the area’s past as a piano manufacturing area, and the developer has chosen to refer to the neighborhood as “The piano district,” a label that likely won’t go down too well with locals.

Bronx blogger Ed García Conde of Welcome2theBronx called the decision “tone deaf,” and further went on to add, “this is simply an attempt to whitewash the history of the neighborhood and more importantly the washing away of a name synonymous with people of color in the South Bronx.”

Previous attempts by developers Somerset Partners and the Chetrit Group to label the area “The Piano District,” and subsequently host an ill-conceived “Bronx is Burning” party were met with extreme scorn in 2015.

“The Crescendo,” is being developed by Carnegie Development, also the developer behind the conversion of an adjacent piano factory, into rentals. Move-ins at this new rental project are expected to get underway in September. Leasing and marketing is being handled by Mdrn. Residential.

• Tone Deaf South Bronx Luxury Rental Building Claims They’re in NYC’s “Piano District” [Welcome2theBronx]
• First Look Inside Piano-Inspired Luxury Development Rising in the South Bronx [CityRealty]
• The anatomy of gentrification: How the Clock Tower building is changing the South Bronx