Updated August 10, 2025
In March 2015, The Wall Street Journal quoted then Director of special projects and Governmental relations for the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corp, Michael Brady (for more read: our article about Michael Brady here), saying, “Once the Somerset [Chetrit] project gets underway, I think you will see a total turnaround of this area…I think you will find this area becomes Williamsburg meets Dumbo.” Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. adds, “The Somerset-Chetrit project is a potential catalyst that would allow developers to reimagine the South Bronx.” The statements came 4 months after Somerset Partners LLC and the Chetrit group purchased 5 acres along the Harlem River in the South Bronx. “The recent discovery of the Bronx Waterfront makes perfect sense in today’s real estate environment…” said Douglas Harmon, an adviser to Somerset. “What we think we can do for the waterfront is set the tone for the next wave of developers…” Later that year, Rubenstein’s Somerset Partners collaborated with artist Lucien Smith to host the exclusive, controversial, and culturally insensitive Halloween party called the “Macabre Suite,” which has since been dubbed by locals as “The Bronx is burning party.”
In 2016, after almost a full year of community backlash regarding the tone deaf party, Rubenstein told Observer.com, “We respect the culture and heritage that’s already here and we want to provide opportunities for those people.” Enter Marco Motti Shalma; Shalma, along with his then fiancée and TV actress, Gillian Todd of 2001’s Flying Dutchman fame, decided they wanted to start a Bronx-based media company called “The Blox.TV”. Naturally, after working with Grupo MYT, the Mexico-based hospitality group, for several years, starting a YouTube channel based on the Bronx is the logical next step. In December of that year, The BLOX made its debut with a call for “Bronx, local, 18+, non-union talent and personalities.” The open call was to be held at 555 Begen Ave, 3rd Floor on December 10, 2016.
Just the night before, on December 9, 2016, according to our sources, Shalma and Todd were introduced to Rubenstein at a private party held at Pier 132, which was hosted by the real estate organization SOBRO and Keith Rubenstein. The duo pitched their project to the developer, claiming they wanted to “create a unique, diverse voice for the people in the Bronx while making a positive impact”. On Feb 13, 2017, one of our sources received their first-ever email blast from “the Blox Fam”. Celebrity names like Fat Joe, Jennifer Lopez, and Swizz Beatz are highlighted, as well as local blogger Ed Conde Garcia, who runs the website “Welcome 2 The Bronx.” At the very bottom of the email blast, the studio address is listed as 2413 Third Ave, a building then owned by Somerset Properties. According to Tyler “PSwitch” Dow, a former staff member of BLOX, this was the studio’s location from the outset of 2017.
In October 2017, The Blox, alongside the HUB- Third Ave BID, organized a food vendor and cleanup series known as “Rocking the Bridge” around the area currently known as Brookfield’s Bankside Properties: Lincoln at Bankside and Third at Bankside, respectively. The owners, again being Somerset at the time, issued statements of gratitude on October 23, 2017, via their Instagram page, saying “ Thank you for Rocking the Bridge @thebloxnyc”
By 2018, all signs indicated that there was no stopping Marco Motti Shalma’s Bronx-centric media project. In May, Shalma announced via the Blox social media accounts and newsletter that it would be launching its first-ever open-air vendors market: The Bronx Night Market. The market, set to open June 30, was in collaboration with Amanda Celestino of Edible Bronx and sponsored by the Fordham BID, Ruben Diaz Jr. and Councilmember Ritchie Torres, Grow NYC, and the Bronx Tourism Council. In July, Keith Rubenstein donated over $5k to Ruben Diaz Jr’s mayoral campaign. Fast forward to September later that year, news broke via pryorcashman.com that “101 Lincoln Avenue and 2401 Third Avenue, along the Harlem River waterfront in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx… were purchased by affiliates of Brookfield Properties.”. The deal closed at a whopping $165 million. We know from the film “Slumlord Millionaire” that Chetrit Group, spearheaded by Joseph Chetrit, set his eyes further south along 3rd Ave and pursued development along the waterfront in Chinatown/LES. Somerset Partners, on the other hand, seemingly left NYC altogether and was last seen purchasing property up in the Catskills as of 2023 (more on that in a separate article soon). Coincidentally enough, by the end of 2018, The Blox had mysteriously disappeared too, with its parent company, Round Seven Media, quietly taking its place. Round Seven Media’s mailing address was listed as 45 Bruckner Boulevard, Shalma’s home at the time, and according to our findings, no word was ever issued on why the change of name and headquarters location occurred.
On June 29, 2018, one night before the premiere of The Bronx Night Market, Shalma announced via his market newsletter the launch of “It’s the Bronx”. In November, the event was promoted as a collaboration between Amaurys Grullon, aka The Bronx Native, and Marco Shalma. The festival slogan read “It’s the hustle, it’s the struggle, it’s the flava!” Shalma made the news once again with then Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. publicly backing another one of his events.
According to the Mott Haven Herald, Shalma had hoped the festival would launch by Saturday, March 23, 2019, inside the still-unfinished Union Crossing on 141st Street, which has since been purchased by Sobro and converted into a Men’s shelter. Instead, after intense community backlash and collective protesting, the event was cancelled. “It’s the Bronx” was highly publicized, not just throughout the borough but the city as a whole. BronxNet, The Bronx Times, and amNY covered the festival consistently and enthusiastically. Community critics highlighted the fact that news outlets actively ignored Shalma’s ties to developers and/or failed to discuss gentrification as a product of the event.
In a statement issued to AMNY (a Schnepps media company along with the Bronx Times), “We are self-funded and the 12 of us were born or raised, or have been living and working in the Bronx. We are anti-gentrification; we don’t approve or comply with that,” he said. “We paid no attention to [the criticism and bigotry] and wanted to focus on the community,” he continued. “We kept going, and it got worse and worse. But for every one of those nasty voices, we had 100 people supporting the cause and the artists.”
On May 2, 2019, Andrew Freedman Home, formerly the venue for “It’s the Bronx!”, held a community forum where representatives from Bronx Council on the Arts, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Andrew Freedman Home, and Design the We promised to make non-profit spaces more accessible to Bronx based creatives after hearing the overwhelming testimonies from those involved with the event. Groups such as HydroPunk, who spearheaded the movement, and Take Back the Bronx were also at the forum; however, Aamurys Grullon and Marco Shalma were nowhere to be found.
So to recap, within 2 short years of making his grand debut within the Bronx, Shalma was able to secure office space and support from Keith Rubenstein, a widely known and despised developer in the community. He managed to secure the support of a local Business Improvement District (whose jurisdiction does not extend to Port Morris, for that matter), Community Board 1, and then Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr., all because of his affiliation with Michael Brady: Ceo of The Hub, CB1 board member, and once again the Director of special projects and Governmental relations for SoBro. He then collaborated with real estate developers such as Madison Realty Capital, The Altmark Group, The Bluestone Group, and Galil Management to present a festival that glorified the struggle of poor creatives in the Bronx, pitching it as “Flava” to wealthy, presumably “white” Wall Street moguls.
Again, we are left to beg the question… who is Marco Motti “The Bulldozer” Shalma? He claims to be “anti-gentrification” but works with affluence, he claims to have the support of the community but has consistently cancelled events and closed down businesses due to lack of support, as he claims to be a “Caribbean, Puerto Rican, Dominican Guy” but in actuality is a proud Jewish Israeli with familial ties to apartheid South Africa and Palestine (or the illegal settlement known as Israel).
Why is he here?
Originally Posted July 30, 2025
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