The Hub is a major commercial center for the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It is located where four roads converge: East 149th Street, Willis Avenue, Melrose Avenue, and

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

Avenues. It is primarily located inside the neighborhood of

Melrose Melrose may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Melrose, Scottish Borders, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland ** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery ** Melrose RFC, rugby club Australia * Melrose, Queensland, a locality in the South Burnett R ...

but also lines the northern border of

Mott Haven Mott Haven is a primarily residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is generally bounded by East 149th Street to the north, the Bruckner Expressway to the east and south, and the Harlem ...

. The Hub, short for "the Hub of the Bronx," has also been called "the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

of the Bronx". It is the site of both maximum traffic and architectural density. In configuration, it resembles a miniature

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

, a spatial "bow-tie" created by the geometry of the street intersections. It is a primary shopping district for Bronx residents, and many new

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

trends can be found in the Hub long before they spread to the rest of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and the world. The area is part of

Bronx Community Board 1 Bronx Community Board 1 is a local government unit of the city of New York, encompassing the neighborhoods of Mott Haven, Melrose, and Port Morris in the borough of the Bronx. It is delimited by the East River, East 149th Street, and Prospect ...

History

The Hub is the oldest major shopping locale in the Bronx. Between 1900 and 1930, the number of Bronx residents increased from 201,000 to 1,265,000. Inhabitants throughout the borough shopped in department stores and boutiques at 149th Street and 3rd Avenue, an area that came to be known in this time as "the Hub". In the 1930s the Hub had

movie palace A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is a large, elaborately decorated movie theater built from the 1910s to the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 1925 and 1930. Wi ...

s and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

theaters. These included the Bronx Opera House, which today operates as a boutique hotel, and the former Jackson Theatre. A few decades after it became a national symbol of

urban decay Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban decay. ...

, the South Bronx is now home to several new construction projects that are rebuilding neighborhoods that have seen little new construction in half a century. On March 14, 2006, Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

and other elected officials took part in the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the new "Hub Retail and Office Center". After a year and a half of construction, the Hub Retail and Office Center opened in the middle of 2007. As a result, the Hub's district is extended to East 156th Street in

. Shopping traffic in the Hub is generated via foot, car, and public transportation. Sidewalks in the Hub are often crowded. Merchants hawk their wares by calling out to the crowd or passing out small

handbill A flyer (or flier) is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place, handed out to individuals or sent through the mail. Today, flyers range from inexpensively photocopied lea ...

s. Music stores offer a wide selection of

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

, and

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

. Craft stores have knitting and sewing supplies. Local mom-and-pop stores compete with major retail chain stores. A new complex with mixed-use office and retail space named the Triangle Plaza Hub opened in the summer of 2016.

Transportation

The Hub, located at the junction of four major thoroughfares, is well served by public transport. The following

MTA Regional Bus Operations MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the Public transport bus service, bus operations division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The MTA operates local, limited-stop, express, and Select Bus Service (bus rapid transit ...

bus routes serve the Hub: * Bx2: to Riverdale (AM hours & Sundays Only),

Kingsbridge Heights Kingsbridge Heights is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the northwest Bronx, New York City. Its boundaries are Van Cortlandt Park to the north, Jerome Avenue to the east, Kingsbridge Road to the south, and the Major Deegan ...

or Third Avenue–138th Street station (via Grand Concourse) all other times * Bx4: to

Westchester Square Westchester Square is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the eastern section of the New York City borough of the Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: East Tremont Avenue and Silver Street, Blo ...

(via Westchester Avenue) * Bx15: to

Fordham Plaza Fordham Plaza, originally known as Fordham Square, is a major commercial and transportation hub in the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham and Belmont, Bronx, Belmont neighborhoods of the Bronx in New York City, New York, United States. It is located on th ...

(via Third Avenue) * Bx19: to

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

Riverbank State Park Riverbank State Park is a state park built on top of a sewage treatment facility on the Hudson River, in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It was opened in 1993. On September 5, 2017, it was renamed Denny Farrell ...

(via 149th Street–Southern Boulevard) * Bx21:

or Third Avenue–138th Street station (via Boston Road) * Bx32: to VA Hospital or Third Avenue–138th Street station (via Morris-Jerome Avenues) * Bx41 and Bx41 SBS: to Williamsbridge, Gun Hill Road (via Webster Avenue) * M125: to

Manhattanville Manhattanville (also known as West Harlem or West Central Harlem, after its location near Harlem) is a neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It is bordered on the north by 135th Street (Manhattan), 13 ...

(via 125th Street) The following

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

stations serve the Hub: * Third Avenue–149th Street subway station on the

IRT White Plains Road Line The White Plains Road Line is a rapid transit line of the A Division of the New York City Subway serving the central Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive ...

() The Hub does not have a nearby

Metro-North Railroad The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company , also branded as MTA Metro-North Railroad and commonly called simply Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State publ ...

station, but the Melrose station is a few blocks north at 162nd Street and

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

. In 1902 a large Grand Union Station was proposed near the now-closed 138th Street station, half a mile from the Hub, which would have been served by many of the railroads entering

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

at the time. However, this was never built. The 149th Street station on the

IRT Third Avenue Line The IRT Third Avenue Line, commonly known as the Third Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue El, or Bronx El, was an elevated railway in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City. Originally operated by the New York Elevated Railway, an independent rai ...

operated from 1887 to 1973. The confluence of the since-demolished IRT Third Avenue Line and IRT White Plains Road Line contributed to the Hub's growth.

Business Improvement District

The Hub is maintained by the HUB Third Avenue Business Improvement District, which was established in 1990 as the Bronx's first

business improvement district A business improvement district (BID) is a defined area within whichever businesses elect to pay an additional fee (or assessment) in order to fund projects within the district's boundaries. A BID is not a tax, as taxes fund the government. BID f ...

(BID). The BID is registered as a

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

under the name Hub-Third Ave Merchants District Management Association Inc.

References

External links

The Hub Third Avenue BID
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hub Melrose, Bronx Mott Haven, Bronx Third Avenue

History

Transportation

Business Improvement District

See also

References

External links