This week's Riverdale Review and Bronx Press

Here are the stories in this week's issue (November 15 - 21) of the Riverdale Review:

The abandoned gas station at West 230th Street and
Broadway has been acquired by Equity One.

* 230th Street mall may expand with key corner > The developer of the yet-to-be-built $54 million Broadway Plaza shopping mall has purchased the adjoining vacant lot--the defunct Getty gas station. The Riverdale Review can reveal that Equity One last month acquired the 7,500-square-foot parcel at 5510 Broadway from a California-based LLC for a hefty $2 million--more than three times the current market value of $630,000.
* Local pols eye Senate leadership battle > Election Day is over, but a few state Senate races upstate are still too close to call, which could have an impact on the careers of some local politicos.
* Board rejects plans for new mansion > Community Board 8 has rejected controversial plans to construct a new mansion in the heart of the Riverdale Historic District. Following fervent opposition, board members last week voted unanimously against a proposal to develop the vacant lot at 5241 Independence Avenue into a four-story, single-family house. Under preliminary plans, the house would boast seven bedrooms, eight and a half bathrooms, an indoor swimming pool, two laundries and a maid's room.
* MTA's Bus Time program will let you track your ride on your phone > Local straphangers can finally track the real-time location of every local and express bus in Riverdale after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority quietly launched its Bus Time program. MTA officials flicked the switch and activated GPS hardware on all 54 Bronx bus routes, inculding the Bx7, Bx9 and Bc10, on Saturday, October 27. However, with efforts underway to restore subway service and repair critical signal and switch components in the wake of superstorm Sandy, the launch has received little fanfare.
* New president a kindred spirit at Riverdale rabbinical school > Open-mindedness, outreach and independent thinking--along with broad-based textual study--will still be the basics at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah when its presidency transfers from Rabbi Avi Weiss to Rabbi Asher Lopatin this July.
* iPhone stolen from woman at gunpoint > The armed serial robbers terrorizing Riverdale have struck again. Police said the two men suspected of carrying out at least five local robberies nabbed yet another iPhone on Sunday.

The Fieldston Lofts apartment tower

* New Fieldston Lofts building on Riverdale Avenue hits market > Luxury condominiums at Fielston Lofts, a boutique apartment building in Riverdale, have been re-listed for a price tag of around $1 million each. The seven-story building, located at 3751 Riverdale Avenue, features 10 three- and four-bedroom units, ranging in size from 1,849 to 2,164 square feet. Each condo boasts high-end finishes including bamboo floors, granite countertops, towering ceilings, marble tiles, custom kitchen cabinets and modern appliances. But it's the asking price--between $899,000 and $1.059 million--that has courted controversy among locals.
* Paradise Theater set to become Creflo Dollar megachurch > The Paradise Theater, an 83-year-old Bronx institution, will soon be home to the World Changers Church of New York. Pastors Creflo and Taffi Dollar reportedly signed the lease on October 20.
* Community leaders get a glimpse of learning at RKA > There was an upbeat vibe at M.S/H.S 141 as community leaders were treated to snapshots of learning in progress as they took a tour of the school on Tuesday morning.

Also, in the Bronx Press:
* Dominic Castore dies > Passionate Bronx resident and longtime Community Board 11 chairman Dominic Castore passed away last weekend.
* Veterans housing opens > At-risk war veterans now have a new, supportive place they can call home. Kingsbridge Terrace, the second of two state-of-the-art Bronx residences created by Jericho Project, will enable veterans to live in affordable, furnished housing.