By JOSEPH PLAMBECK

Published: March 22, 2012

THE landscape in Throgs Neck, in the southeastern corner of theBronx, has been transformed over the last several decades. Before, open fields flanked areas of three-season bungalows overlooking Long Island Sound and other expanses of water. Now the area is mostly bustling and built up — and sewn into the city fabric by expressways.

But when it comes to residents’ reasons for choosing Throgs Neck, they haven’t changed much at all. Largely a working- and middle-class neighborhood, home to many city workers including firefighters and police officers, it is relaxed and friendly — and those qualities have also made it magnetic.

In 1963, John and Theresa Scuoppo moved into a two-family brick home that they bought for $31,500, because they found the area quaint as well as convenient to their jobs in Manhattan. They live in the same home now.

In 1986, Jack and Marie McCarrick moved into an attached single-family home that they bought for $159,000, and knew they were in a family-oriented neighborhood easily accessible to many parts of the region. Mr. McCarrick had spent much of his childhood here, enjoying swimming off the shore. When he married, he said, he had no doubt where to look for a home. And the McCarricks have been in it ever since.

Last year, Felicia and William Frestan moved into a three-bedroom condominium with water views that they bought for about $300,000, thankful to find a friendly and well-situated neighborhood. Ms. Frestan, 54, a former postal worker who moved from just up the road in Baychester, says she plans to stay in her home “till the end of my days.”

“First, I fell in love with the area, then I fell in love with the apartment,” she added. “You feel blessed when everything is at your reach.”

Water is very much within reach — on three sides of the neighborhood. Although the beach-club atmosphere of the summer months dissipates each fall when the summer-only residents depart, brokers say the sea remains a strong pull for many buyers.

The two square miles of Throgs Neck are home to about 30,000 people, according to census data. The area has traditionally been an enclave for Italian-, Irish- and German-Americans, and that still is the case. But these days there are substantial numbers of African- and Asian-Americans, as well as Hispanic-Americans from a variety of countries, distributed throughout.

The area has also become more desirable because of a sharp drop in crime. In the 45th Precinct, which encompasses Throgs Neck, crime has fallen more than 30 percent in the last 10 years and nearly 70 percent since 1993, according to city statistics. “It’s rather idyllic here,” said Mr. Scuoppo, 83. “It’s not a hassle for commuting, shopping or education. That’s what makes it a congenial community.”

Still, communities require involvement. To protect the area’s perceived architectural congeniality during the real estate boom, the Throggs Neck Homeowners Association, which has about 700 members, had its work cut out. Developers were tearing down one-families and building much larger multifamilies on the same lots. As the buildings became bigger, traffic and parking troubles were popping up.

The group pushed for zoning changes to limit the size of future homes, and the city made those changes in 2004.

Residential construction these days is mostly stalled; the biggest development of any kind is on the far west side atFerry Point Park, a 400-plus-acre former landfill. In January, the city approved a deal to have Donald J. Trump manage a new 18-hole golf course at the park. The course is to open next year, and green fees of up to $125 are planned.

WHAT YOU’LL FIND

About the name Throgs Neck: Many residents, and the homeowner association, insist that the correct spelling is with two g’s, even though the city uses only one. But as the area is in fact named after an early settler who spelled his name John Throckmorton — no g’s at all — maybe there simply isn’t a correct spelling.

Shaped kind of like a stingray, with the State University of New York Maritime College as the tail, Throgs Neck has Eastchester Bay and the Long Island Sound on its east side, the East River to the south and Westchester Creek to the west. Layton Avenue and Bruckner Boulevard are generally considered to make up the northern border.

When it comes to the housing, name it and the neighborhood probably has it: single- and multifamily, detached and attached, brick and wood-framed, apartments, condos and bungalows. On the western side, there is also a large public housing complex.

Many of the lots are 25 or 30 by 100 feet, but there are some double lots scattered around. Street parking is plentiful, but it’s often not essential: many homes have driveways, if not garages.

There are also two distinct co-op enclaves near the water — Silver Beach Gardens on the southwestern side and Edgewater Park on the eastern. Each has only one main road leading in and out, and inside are hundreds of single-family homes, about 1,100 in total, mostly winterized bungalows.

Lynn Gerbino, the president of the homeowner association, lives in Silver Beach. “We have a lot of people here who get waterfront property without paying waterfront prices,” she said.

WHAT YOU’LL PAY

The market has picked up in the last year, said Benny Diasparra, the owner/broker of Exit Realty Search. But he also said that it was still a buyers’ market, with prices down about 15 percent from the peak a few years ago.

If priced right, however, homes are moving much faster now. “When a seller is willing to adjust to fit the market,” as Mr. Diasparra put it, “there is a lot of movement.” Many of these realistic sellers, he added, receive multiple offers within a month of posting their listings.

About 45 single-family homes are for sale, according to a recent search. In general, prices range from $350,000 to $500,000. About 30 multifamily homes were for sale, ranging in price from about $450,000 to $700,000.

Homes to the east of East Tremont Avenue are slightly more expensive than those to the west, partly because homes on the eastern side are generally newer.

Mr. Diasparra said his company rented out about 300 units last year, many in two- or three-family homes. There are also some larger rental buildings. One-bedrooms rent for about $1,100, Mr. Diasparra said; two-bedrooms run $1,500 and three-bedrooms up to $2,000.

WHAT TO DO

There’s water here, and lots of it, in practically every direction. That makes boating, fishing and other water activities popular warm-weather pastimes. But there’s plenty to do on dry land, too.

Restaurants and shops line East Tremont Avenue, and the locals gush about dining options. “I could eat a different cuisine every night of the week,” Ms. Frestan said, “and it would all be good.” But often, when prodded, residents give the highest grades to the Italian offerings — particularly the menu at Tosca Café and the pizza at Tommy’s.

There are also ball fields, one at the Bicentennial Veterans Memorial Park.

THE SCHOOLS

Schools include Public Schools 72 and 304, which serve students in prekindergarten through fifth grade. At the former, 37 percent of fourth graders met standards in reading and 49 in math; at the latter, percentages were 64 and 82. Citywide percentages were 51 and 62.

Middle School X101 has about 400 students in Grades 6 through 8. Among eighth graders, 69 percent met standards in reading and 68 in math, versus 35 and 53 percent citywide.

Herbert H. Lehman High School is just to the north of the neighborhood. SAT averages in 2011 were 414 in reading, 442 in math and 395 in writing, versus 436, 460, and 431 citywide. The neighborhood also has several private schools, including St. Frances de Chantal School, The School of St. Benedict and Preston High School.

THE COMMUTE

Practically everyone has a car here, and for good reason. The Cross-Bronx Expressway, the Hutchinson River Parkway and the Throgs Neck Expressway all pass through the area, making relatively short work of driving to Westchester, other parts of the Bronx,Queens and even Manhattan. Driving to Midtown can take 30 minutes or less.

Still, many people use public transportation to commute. An express bus, the BxM9, runs to and from Midtown all day. On trips to Manhattan, the bus picks up passengers in three different spots, and a one-way trip during peak times takes about an hour.

The area is also served by local buses like the Bx8, Bx40 and Bx42. They make their way to the No. 6 train along Westchester Avenue. The ride to Grand Central Terminal takes roughly 40 minutes.

THE HISTORY

Some successful capitalists in the 19th century owned estates in Throgs Neck. One of them, Collis P. Huntington, “owned so many railroads that he could go cross-country without leaving his own property,” according to a text by the Bronx Historical Society. Another, John A. Morris, known as the “Lottery King,” made a fortune running the Louisiana State Lottery.