Rodent Control in Mott Haven

Rodent Pressure in Mott Haven

Mott Haven is the southernmost section of the Bronx, directly north of the Harlem River from East Harlem and connected by the Third Avenue Bridge and the Willis Avenue Bridge. The neighborhood has a mix of older pre-war residential buildings on the streets west of Third Avenue, postwar NYCHA housing developments concentrated along the Major Deegan Expressway corridor, and a growing commercial and arts district along the waterfront.

Third Avenue from 138th Street to 149th Street is the main commercial corridor, with food retail and restaurants generating Norway rat pressure on the surrounding residential blocks. The 138th Street and Third Avenue area — the Bronx Terminal Market's legacy infrastructure — has extensive underground utility corridors from its market history. The Harlem River waterfront provides harborage along the neighborhood's southern edge.

The pre-war walk-up buildings in Mott Haven, particularly on the streets west of Third Avenue toward the waterfront, are among the oldest residential buildings in the Bronx. Some date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and have the same original masonry construction vulnerabilities as the oldest buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn.