Second phase begins on affordable housing complex at former Bronx juvenile jail
Rendering courtesy of WXY Studios
The five-acre mixed-use development at a former juvenile jail site in the Bronx is moving forward. New York City officials on Wednesday broke ground on the second phase of the Peninsula, which will bring over 700 affordable homes and a manufacturing building to Hunts Point. The project’s second phase includes two buildings with 359 apartments, a public plaza, a parking garage, and community space. The mixed-use complex is rising on the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, which closed in 2011 and was notorious for its mistreatment of children.
Phase two of the Peninsula project includes two mixed-income, mixed-use buildings with 100 percent affordable housing, including 50 units set aside for formerly homeless New Yorkers.
Residents will have access to a gym, laundry room, children’s playroom, tenant lounge space, outdoor terraces, Wi-Fi, and bike storage. The buildings feature eco-friendly elements, like solar roof panels and the ability to harvest rainwater.
Construction on phase two of the Peninsula is expected to be completed in the summer of 2026.
The first phase broke ground in November 2019, which included 56,000 square feet for local industrial and light manufacturing businesses as well as 183 deeply affordable housing units. It was completed in 2022.
“My mother used to say, ‘when you find yourself in a dark place it could be burials or plantings,’ and today’s groundbreaking represents how this former dark place of the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center became a planting for a full, five-acre redevelopment project called ‘The Peninsula,’” Mayor Eric Adams said.
“When I visited the site to celebrate New Yorkers moving into new homes in the first phase of this project, we committed to getting phase two done. We are excited to celebrate another promise made and promise kept under this administration, as we move closer to creating new, safe, high-quality, affordable homes for Bronxites and all New Yorkers.”
Developed by the Gilbane Development Company, Hudson Companies, and the Mutual Housing Association of New York, the Peninsula is located on the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center. After more than 50 years of operation and years of work by criminal justice advocates and nonprofit groups, the city closed the center in 2011.
In 2016, the city’s Economic Development Corporation, the HPD, and the Housing Development Corporation selected Gilbane Development Company, Hudson Companies, and the Mutual Housing Association of New York to redevelop the property after issuing a request for expressions of interest.
In total, the complex will include four mixed-use residential buildings and a light-industrial manufacturing building. Slated for completion in 2029, the campus will contain 740 affordable homes, 16,000 square feet of retail space including a grocery store, 52,800 square feet of community facility space, and 59,000 square feet of open plaza space.
The community facility space will feature a Department of Education-operated Head Start facility, Inspiration Point’s cultural arts facility, a Health and Wellness Center managed by Urban Health Plan, and community programming run by The Point CDC. The property is also expected to create 260 parking spaces in two underground lots.
“This marks a pivotal moment in transforming what was once a juvenile detention center into a living and thriving community in the heart of the Hunts Point Peninsula,” HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr said.
“Complete with permanently affordable housing and resources long needed in this corner of the Bronx, this project is a testament to the continued commitment that the City and our development partners share in supporting families and transforming neighborhoods.”
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Still looks like a jail!
When are we going to stop putting our poor and our elderly in grey filing cabinets?
Shame!