The IBX Could Transform These New York City Neighborhoods

A proposed transit line that would create a new connection between New York City’s two most populous boroughs—Brooklyn and Queens—has the potential to remake a large swath of the city. 

The Interborough Express, or the IBX for short, is slated to connect Jackson Heights in Queens with Sunset Park in Brooklyn, with over a dozen stops that allow transfers to existing subway lines in between.

Many of these stops will be in neighborhoods that are currently underserved by the city’s public transportation system, giving residents and visitors new and quicker ways to move through the city. 

It’s hard to imagine that a place like New York could have neighborhoods or even entire regions that are considered underdeveloped.

But, far beyond the bustle of Wall Street and bright lights of Broadway, millions of people commute, work, and live in parts of Queens and Brooklyn that are considered transit and resource deserts.

A transportation option like this could spur upzoning, development, and infrastructure overhauls that would create tens of thousands of housing units that the city desperately needs. 

The project is ambitious and uncertain. New York, and the U.S. at large, is not known for completing projects like this on time and within budget.

What should New Yorkers pay attention to as this project moves along, and what can others learn about transit-driven growth and development that they can apply to their own markets?

The IBX: A project with real promise

Most of New York City’s subway system runs through Manhattan, with only one train line connecting the immense boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens directly. The IBX, according to the city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, would “create a new transit option for close to 900,000 residents of the neighborhoods along the route.”

This proposed 14-mile light metro line would make it easier to live and work entirely within Brooklyn or Queens—something the COVID-19 pandemic showed many New Yorkers were hungry for.

“People have an appetite to live out of Manhattan, and better interconnectivity to these areas in both Queens and Brooklyn will mean people can live and work in the same borough,” says Danielle Nazinitsky, a Brooklyn resident and founder of Brokerage Decode Real Estate. 

Keep in mind: New York has a history of promising transformative transit projects that underdeliver. The city’s Second Avenue Subway line took 97 years from its original proposal to actual completion—and so far has yielded only three open stations at a cost of over $4 billion. 

There’s more reason to be optimistic that the IBX is coming to fruition more quickly, however. For one, the route is already mostly built, with an existing freight line that would be repurposed for the project. Light rail also uses smaller, lighter vehicles that can run on the existing corridor, reducing construction costs. 

That being said, a new transit line alone won’t significantly affect the neighborhoods along the transit corridor. Despite massive investment, the Upper East Side has seen little transformation, in part because no zoning reforms accompanied the new stations.

“IBX must be paired with street conversions, zoning reform, and incremental development strategies. Otherwise, it risks becoming another expensive project with little neighborhood impact,” says Shiva Ghomi, director of planning and community development at Aufgang Architects.

Where will development happen first?

The IBX is projected to catalyze significant growth: The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council predicts at least 41,000 new residents and 15,000 jobs in the corridor by 2045. For developers, prospective homebuyers, and renters, the question is where those changes will concentrate first and most quickly. 

Much of the IBX is slated to run through low-rise neighborhoods, with many parcels zoned for industrial use. According to Crain’s, land-use changes could create more than 100,000 new apartments within a half-mile of the stops over the next decade. 

Where the best opportunities for development and investment lie, however, may depend on whom you ask. 

“There's going to be development all along the line, but I think the biggest developments are probably going to be in the two terminuses of the project,” says Francis Vieira, a real estate broker in New York City. “These are places where you already see development happening, and now it's just going to be that there are two ends of a line that they have even more reason to develop.” 

Vieria identifies the Brooklyn terminus of the line, which is near New York Harbor, as an obvious point of early development before investment moves inward. 

“You always see the waterfront first, and then it goes from there,” says Vieria. “The views, the raw nature, the space to build out plazas—that’s where commercial development and then residential development goes.”

As time goes on and development in these areas reaches their maximum, the money will move from a place of high concentration to a place of low concentration—like osmosis. It will likely result in a reshuffling of these areas, as developers are allowed to build more densely closer to transit lines and landlords find they can charge more in the areas that used to be transit deserts. 

“I’m not sure that the city has come up with the right plan to make it viable for the people who already live there, to make sure they don’t get pushed out,” Vieira says. 

But there's another way to think about where development will concentrate—one that focuses less on obvious location advantages and more on the bones of the neighborhoods themselves.

Pairing new transportation with better design

The terminal stations will likely see commercial development first. But for those seeking neighborhoods that will become more livable and accessible, Ghomi offers a different perspective.

“Inland stops with existing street conditions—walkable grids, mixed-use, human-scaled design—have far greater development potential than waterfront or terminus points dominated by auto-oriented infrastructure,” says Ghomi. “Transportation investments only create value when paired with safe, productive streets.”

Ghomi points to the neighborhoods of Bushwick and Sunset Park, with their “fine-grained grids and active frontages, ideal for incremental infill” as potential examples. These neighborhoods, with their dense, walkable, and vibrant retail corridors, have high potential for exciting development, she says. 

Other neighborhoods that already boast a “charming environment,” as Nazinitsky puts it, will also benefit greatly from the line. She notes Ridgewood and Maspeth as potential examples. 

“People who live in the middle of the proposed line can take it in either direction to other transit hubs. They keep their charming environment and add transit access. It's a win-win,” Nazinitsky says. 

For those considering buying property near a planned IBX stop—or anywhere where a transformative transit or infrastructure project is taking place—design features to look for in a neighborhood include human-scaled streets, active frontages, mixed-use zoning, walkability and connectivity, and incremental investment. 

Red flags include wide, high-speed arterial roads, large surface parking lots or auto-oriented retail (think drive-through fast food), and neighborhood plans focused on luxury towers or mega projects without small-scale improvements. 

A lesson in development beyond the five boroughs

New York is still years away from the IBX being operational. For many New Yorkers, the idea is still too far away to even consider.

"I haven't had a single client talk about the IBX yet. Some people have aspired to buy near Broadway Junction for appreciation potential, but ultimately decide on somewhere a little closer to Manhattan," says Nazinitsky.

It’s a truism in New York City development that following the subway lines shows you the path of what’s coming next. That’s what makes the IBX so unique: It is a brand new line, connecting neighborhoods that previously had little relationship to each other or to the larger transit network. 

As the project unfolds, it will offer a real-time lesson in how transit shapes neighborhoods. Will inland areas with walkable grids see thoughtful redesigns and incremental growth that benefit current residents? Or will terminus points and waterfront locations attract speculative mega projects that are repeated down the line, displacing communities? The answers will matter far beyond New York: Cities across the country are wrestling with how to add housing and improve access without displacing the residents who need it most.

For the 900,000 people who live along the route today, the question is simpler: Will it improve their lives? Many are hopeful that the answer is yes, and with good reason.  

"Access to convenient and fast transit is a cornerstone of achieving upward financial mobility," says Nazinitsky. "It raises the standard of living for everyone."