La Central, 992-unit affordable Bronx development, ramps up construction

As 6sqft previously reported, after getting the green light for La Central, a new development that would bring nearly 1,000 units of affordable housing to the site of the Bronx Zoo-bordering Lambert Houses, construction on phase 1 of the project is well underway. Welcome2TheBronx reports that a 160-unit building D at Bergen Avenue and 152nd Street, a supportive housing building for formerly homeless individuals, is almost topped out and is scheduled to be finished by the summer of 2019. Two more buildings in the 992 unit, 1.1-million-square-foot Hudson Companies, Inc, development have broken ground.

Buildings A and B will rise between 149th Street to 151st Streets and Brook and Bergen Avenues. Building A will offer a YMCA; atop the building will be a GrowNYC rooftop farm. Both buildings will have retail space below at street level; completion of these two buildings is set for 2020.

The project, designed by FXCollaborative, falls under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandatory inclusionary housing (MIH) legislation an is the biggest project to be approved to date under the MIH rules which require some income restricted apartments in projects that need the city’s approval. The New York City Planning Commission voted unanimously in 2016 to include the Bronx complex in the new affordable housing program. All apartments in the residential complex, which will also include the aforementioned 50,000 square foot Y.M.C.A. and rooftop gardens, a skate park and a rooftop telescope operated by the Bronx High School of Science, are currently intended for low- and middle-income families in order to remain affordable for area residents.

Groundbreaking for buildings C and E is scheduled for next summer; building E at 153rd Street, at 25 stories, will be one of the tallest buildings in the South Bronx and will be the site of the astronomy lab run by Bronx High School of Science. La Central will also offe a new BronxNet studio facility. It is anticipated that the new development will bring thousands of new residents to the neighborhood, most of whom are expected to have significantly higher income levels than current residents, though there will be many units that will remain permanently affordable.

[Via Welcome2TheBronx]

RELATED:

• City Says Yes to Bronx Complex, No to Flatiron Site for Affordable Housing Plan
• Going Green and Curbing Gentrification: How the Bronx Is Doing It Differently
• The Bronx Dethrones Brooklyn for Most Residential Permits Issued

Images courtesy of FXCollaborative.