The Plan: More Student Housing Planned for Fordham’s Bronx Fiefdom

Student housing — whether it’s owned by a school or by private organizations — isn’t exactly known for being luxury living, but a new development coming near Fordham University in the Bronx might just change that. 

Maddd Equities and the Stagg Group have partnered to bring a 225,000-square-foot, 12-story student housing project to 2740 Webster Avenue, just a 10-minute walk from Fordham’s main campus next to the New York Botanical Garden. 

More than 50 percent of Fordham’s student population lives off campus, according to Maddd and the Stagg Group. With that in mind, the partners decided to create a more sophisticated and enriching environment for students to call home, as existing off-campus housing options are less than ideal, according to the developers.

2740 Webster Avenue is currently a surface parking lot across the Metro-North train tracks from Fordham’s main Rose Hill campus. The future residence hall is expected to house up to 600 students, and will feature a vast array of amenities. No interior designer is attached to the project yet. 

“We’re having conversations to better define what the final build scope will look like,” said Mahesh Katkar, a partner and senior adviser at Maddd Equities. “We’re talking about an approximately 25,000-square-foot amenity space, which is really dedicated solely for the purpose to be a live, work and play environment for the student population who will reside within the building.”

Ideas for the amenity space include a communal kitchen, study and lounge areas, a gaming room with ping-pong and pool tables, as well as an athletic space with a half-size basketball court and potentially a pickleball court or a squash room. There have also been conversations about adding a swimming pool to the residence, but nothing has been decided. 

“Thinking about it holistically, you’re in a submarket that has been extremely deficient in terms of supply of quality housing for students,” Katkar said. “We’re also fully aware of some competitive landlords in that submarket, and not all of them have the best of reputations with respect to the maintenance of their buildings.” 

The new building at 2740 Webster Avenue will also have 24/7 security and other safety features. Katkar and Jorge Madruga, founder and managing principal of Maddd, noted anecdotally that a lot of the off-campus student housing near Fordham is in poor condition, and that nearby single-family homes have been illegally divided to make room for students. 

“This would be a true dorm building,” said Madruga, whose daughter attended Fordham. “It’ll be legally built as a community facility, and operate to be a legal dorm.” 

Fordham has not come in as a partner on the $125 million project, but those conversations are taking place with the university’s senior leadership.

“They have not committed to it yet,” Madruga said of the university. “But they are analyzing it, looking at it, and they’re giving us advice on some of the buildout. There’s a new STEM building being built at Fordham University that is meant to grow the student population. So we’re trying to solve their future needs.” 

The new student housing development is expected to be completed by July of 2028 and open for the 2029 academic year.  

Amanda Schiavo can be reached at aschiavo@commercialobserver.com