By Jeff Coltin
Burrito or bowl? White or brown rice? Black or pinto beans? Chipotle Mexican Grill, which opened its first-ever Bronx location at One Fordham Plaza this past Saturday, is presenting diners near Rose Hill with a number of choices, but none more important than this: Chipotle, or another restaurant in the area?
Martin McCormack, FCRH ’15, chose Chipotle, ordering a burrito bowl, chips and guacamole on opening day.
“You know, Saturday afternoon, I think I’d rather come to Chipotle, know what I’m getting rather than going to [independent sandwich shop] Best Deli and having them charge me whatever price they please,” he said.
McCormack noted the mass of people waiting to order, an even mix of students and residents, despite the between-meals time of 3 p.m. “The line is out the door at the moment…they must be making ridiculous amounts of money,” he said. “It could be dangerous for the other businesses around here.”
Chipotle is just one of a flurry of national chains occupying newly minted retail space in One Fordham Plaza. In the last few years, former office space on the first two floors of the building has been filled by Starbucks, Chase Bank, TJ Maxx, Famous Footwear and Party City. These nationwide businesses are still a novelty in this part of the Bronx, known more for the crowded bins of Cee and Cee Department store than the Ralph Lauren-packed racks of TJ Maxx.
That is not to say chains are unknown to the Fordham Road ecosystem. Among others, the street contains a McDonalds, Gap and Best Buy above a shuttered Sears.
“Sears had been there forever. Sears was there when Jesus was still walking the earth,” said Darren DeVivo, GSB ’87, and a DJ at WFUV. DeVivo grew up in the Bronx’s Morris Park neighborhood and said the store was an institution before its November 2014 closing.
“We’d refer to that intersection as ‘I’m going to Sears’ even though you weren’t literally going to Sears, you were going to the Fordham-Webster intersection for something,” he said.
Just a day before Chipotle opened, DeVivo saw a post on a Facebook page about the changing neighborhood in his old Morris Park community.
“There seems to be a rash of independent stores that have recently closed down… landlords not renewing leases,” he said. “People were asking about national chains coming in.” DeVivo gave the example of a Boost Mobile replacing a butcher shop.
Dillon Fraoli works for RipCo, the commercial real estate broker that leases space in One Fordham Plaza. He said the new development came because the landlord wanted to earn more from the building, and because leasing to certain tenants carries less stress.
“It’s pretty much what’s best for the landlord,” he said. “National chains have the best credit and they tend to be the best tenants.”
There are still two empty retail spaces in the building. Fraoli expects they will be filled by more student-friendly choices like the ones already there. “The university definitely helps our leasing program,” he said. “We reach out to retailers who we think will do well in the area.”
If such businesses seem to clash with the independent restaurants and shops further west on Fordham Road or blocks away on Arthur Avenue, most of the students interviewed at Chipotle did not notice.
“I consider here by Fordham Plaza to be a separate and different thing than what’s on Arthur Avenue,” said Joe Campagna, GSB ’15. He does not fear chains pushing small businesses from the neighborhood.
“I still think that people who live here year-round value going to a dining establishment owned by one of their neighbors rather than a huge national company,” he said.
Erica Mendoza, FCRH ’16, is a huge Chipotle fan. “My roommates freshman year used to literally take the subway to Manhattan just to get Chipotle,” she said. But, even Mendoza said the proximity of burritos wouldn’t keep her away from the independent red sauce Italian joints for which Belmont is known. “I think it would just keep me away from the Chipotle in Manhattan, she said. “I don’t think it would stop me from going to any of the restaurants on Arthur Avenue.”
And Loretta Malloy, FCRH ’16 felt the same way about shopping at Fordham Plaza.
“It’s nice, because these are stores that otherwise you’d have to go into Manhattan to go to. It’s great having a TJ Maxx right there,” Malloy said. “Stores like Eazy Pickins [another retailer on Fordham Road], they have their own special vibe going on. It’s good to have them both. If the rest of Fordham Road changes, I think that would be bad. But if it’s just here at Fordham Plaza, not so much.”
