CB3 approves 23 affordable homeownership units in Morrisania section, part of larger project spanning 6 districts

Plans to bring home ownership to the Bronx may soon become a reality as a community board recently approved 23 co-ops in the Morrisania section of the borough.

On June 14, Bronx Community Board 3 gave a letter of support for a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) application by the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) for the development of a six-story building containing approximately 23 affordable housing units on vacant city-owned land at 1312-1314 Chisholm Street.

The Morrisania project is part of HPD’s Open Door program, which funds new homeownership opportunities for moderate and middle income households. The development team selected through the Request for Qualifications process was Neighborhood Infill Partners LLXC, which is a joint venture of Sandra Erickson Real Estate Inc. and JCAL Development Group LLC. Upon completion of construction, the developer will sell the ownership units to households who agree to owner-occupy their units. Sale prices will be affordable to families with annual household incomes at or below 90% of the area median income (AMI).

The board voted 20-3 in favor of the project, with two board members abstaining from the vote. Board members Gilberto Constantinez and Paul Navarro praised the proposed housing.

“This is a wonderful project for our community,” Navarro said. “We need all types of housing in this community, not just low-income.”

Constantinez said this will help create generational wealth and hopefully encourage others to move to the borough.

“This is something I have been advocating for,” Constantinez said. “I’m just happy that home ownership is coming to the Bronx.”

The approved project is part of much larger overall project that spans 12 residential buildings with approximately 78 rental and homeownership units. HPD and the development team first came before the CB3 Housing, Land-Use and Economic Development Committee in the fall of 2021 and discussed the entire proposed scatter site development project spanning six community districts — referred to as the Morrisania-Morris Heights Cluster site. CB3 has a total of five out of the 12 sites.

At 1312-1314 Chisholm Street there will be one studio apartment on the first floor with amenities such as a mailbox area, a bicycle storage area, a large patio and backyard, a tenant laundry room, two fire stairwells and a compactor room with a recyclable area. The building will have a cellar area that will have a recreational room/fitness gym, storage area and utility rooms.

The second to sixth floors will have four apartments on each floor consisting of one- and two-bedroom apartments with a compactor/recyclable room on each floor. The one-bedroom apartments will be under 600 square feet and the two-bedrooms are approximately 800 square feet of space. The apartment distribution will be a total of 11 one bedrooms, 11 two bedrooms and one studio unit.

Admission for the housing will give CB3 a 50% preference, municipal workers and mobility impaired persons have a 5% preference and individuals who are visually impaired have a 2% preference.

The ULURP application’s 60-day public review process for approval by the community board began May 18. The ULURP application now requires a 30-day review by the borough president’s office.

Of the all the sites outlined in the project, three require ULURP. The 1312-1314 Chisholm site and two locations for multi-family sites in CB5: 1647 Popham St. and 30 W. 182 St. All others project sites will be developed as small homes.