Pest Control in Parkchester, Bronx
Parkchester is a planned community in the East Bronx, a self-contained village of red-brick apartment buildings arranged around landscaped lawns and walkways, with the fountain-centered Metropolitan Oval at its heart. The complex covers more than 120 acres between East Tremont Avenue, White Plains Road, Purdy Street and the Cross Bronx Expressway, and it includes its own shopping streets, movie theater space and parking garages. The 6 train runs along Westchester Avenue with an express stop at Parkchester. The buildings are decorated with whimsical terracotta figures of animals and people. Residents today are a diverse mix of Bangladeshi, West African, Puerto Rican, Dominican and Caribbean families, many of them condominium owners.
Also known as: Metropolitan Oval, Parkchester Condominiums.
About Parkchester
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company built Parkchester between 1938 and 1942 as a massive middle-income rental project, with roughly 12,000 apartments in 171 buildings. For decades it was well maintained and highly sought after. After Met Life sold the complex in the late 1960s, it was converted to condominiums in stages, and after a difficult period in the 1980s and 1990s the complex underwent major renovation, including new windows and upgraded infrastructure.
Common Pest Problems in Parkchester
With thousands of apartments packed into interconnected buildings, Parkchester is a place where German cockroaches and mice can spread quickly if one unit is neglected. Shared walls, plumbing chases, steam risers and compactor rooms link apartments, so a roach problem in one kitchen can soon affect neighbors above and below. The condominium structure means owners and the building management must coordinate treatments, which is often the key to getting long-term results.
Outdoors, Parkchester's lawns, shrub beds and trash collection areas attract rats, which burrow under hedges and along building foundations. The elevated 6 train along Westchester Avenue and the ledges of the complex's many buildings host pigeons, and residents near the station deal with droppings on sills and air conditioners. Older bathrooms and closets that stay damp can harbor silverfish, especially in units that still have original plaster and tile work.