$600M overhaul at the Lambert Houses underway to bring 1,665 affordable housing units to the Bronx

When it comes to affordable housing, the Bronx is booming. 6sqft previously reported that proposals were being heard to bring 1,665 affordable apartments to the site of the Bronx Zoo-bordering Lambert Houses, which would double the development’s current affordable housing units, triple the existing retail space, create a new public school, and help to better integrate the community into the surrounding neighborhood. As reported by the Times, Phipps Houses, the complex’s nonprofit owner and developer, has moved ahead on plans to demolish the existing 14 buildings and build taller towers, a project that’s gotten a $600 million price tag.

The Lambert Houses seemed futuristic and innovative in the mid-1970s when they were constructed, but today seem outdated due to infrastructure problems like sewage backup and a less-than-safe layout for residents entering and leaving the building. Adam Weinstein, president and chief executive of Phipps Houses, describes the revamp as “undoing the downzoning of the ’60s and ’70s.”

Current buildings with “spiky facades constructed with custom-made bricks the color of burnt-sienna crayons” will be razed and replaced, and the redevelopment will make it more difficult for thieves to get in and out by limiting access. HPD was sure to note that no current Lambert tenants will be displaced; if the building in which they currently reside is slated to be demolished, residents will be relocated to new buildings within the complex; they’ll be moved to temporary apartments while their homes are being rebuilt.

Neighborhood reaction to the Lambert overhaul has been positive, and the district’s councilman Ritchie Torres favors the redevelopment. The Bronx is home to 28 percent of the 55,509 low-income apartments that have become available under the mayor’s plan, and the City Council recently approved the La Central development, which will bring nearly 1,000 affordable units to Melrose under de Blasio’s mandatory inclusionary housing legislation.

[Via NYT]

Lead image: Google Earth view of the current Lambert Houses

RELATED:

• The Bronx’s Lambert Houses may be replaced with 1,665 affordable housing units
• City Council approves La Central development, bringing nearly 1,000 affordable units to the Bronx
• Bronx building boom leads to a population comeback not seen in over 40 years
• The Bronx Dethrones Brooklyn for Most Residential Permits Issued