Add yet two more new apartment building sprouting up in a barren part of the south Bronx.
Officials with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development are going through the public approval process for two apartment buildings on a corner lot at 147th Street.
On June 20, the City Planning Commission approved the contract to Manhattan-based Yuco Real Estate. It’s slated get to the City Council for a vote sometime in the late summer, said HPD spokesman Eric Bederman.
The size of the lot proved to be a challenge in the actual look of the buildings, said Bederman.
Yuco worked with the limited space within the Brook Avenue lot to design the pair.
“The building on that lot is proposed to be seven stories with 11 residential units,” said Bederman, who added that over 1,700 square feet will be set aside for commerical space.
A five-story building made up of 55 units will be set up on the lot closest to the corner of 147th Street. A nearly 6,000 square foot yard will accompany the new structure.
The latest project is another example of the south Bronx’s renaissance period. Just recently, city officials cut the ribbon for the much-anticipated Via Verde affordable housing complex in Melrose.
At another site, Jackson Development Group and Joy Construction Corp. opened St. Ann’s Terrace, an eight-story complex with 64 apartments. In Longwood, Newman Design is set to turn a blighted portion of the area into Crossroads Plaza, a 400-unit apartment complex.
Bederman said the wheels to rebuild were originally set in motion in the 1980s when HPD bought 100,000 abandoned properties through tax foreclosure.
“People are starting to take notice of the work that we’ve already accomplished,” he said.
He credited Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan as another effort that’s revitalizing the south Bronx.
Since 2003, the multi-billion dollar initiative has financed affordable housing for nearly 40,000 Bronx families, according to Bederman. The plan has also helped create over 7,000 affordable housing units in Community Board 1.
Melrose has been at the epicenter of the rebuilding effort since city officials adopted the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Plan in the early 1990s. The area boasts about 66 buildings shared by community boards 1 and 3.
So far there have been 2,818 new apartments created, according to Bederman. The city expects to have about 3,700 new units up and running by the time the sites are completed.
Reach reporter David Cruz at 718-742-3383 or email dcruz@cnglocal.com.
David Cruz can be reach via e-mail at DCruz@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 742-3383
