270 Rental Units, Some Affordable, To Replace Inwood Gas Station

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY - Nearly 300 apartment units are slated to be built at the site of a former Inwood Speedway gas station.

401 West 207th St., located on the corner of 9th Avenue, is poised for 270 apartment units across 302,000 square feet and 16 stories, plus 35,500 square feet of retail space, including a loading dock. An opening date is set for 2024, according to real estate documents from developer KSRNY.

25 percent of the new units will be designated as affordable housing under New York City’s mandatory inclusionary housing program, per ConnectCRE.

During the early months of the Covid pandemic, the gas station gained attention after it became a hotspot for partygoers forgoing social distancing rules, masks and even clothes altogether, Patch reported.

The owner of the location is The Jay Group, a private investment firm which purchased the Speedway for $25 million in March 2022.

The site is part of New York’s Brownfield Cleanup Program and a general overhaul of West 207th Street, with a Food Bazaar and over 1,000 other rental units planned just steps from the 1 train. The developer is seeking tenants - namely in the retail, medical, education and fitness industries - to begin leasing starting in the third quarter of 2024.

Brownfields are properties that are difficult to redevelop due to potential environmental contamination. The 401 West 207th St. site, which has been used as an auto garage since the mid-1930s and a gasoline filling station and an auto-laundry since the 1960s, has seen over half a dozen spills in its lifetime, officials said.

In 1998 alone, over 1,600 tons of petroleum‐impacted soils were removed from the area, according to documents from the state.

You can view renderings of the development site here.