Community District
Find the planning projects in your community district.
Bronx CD01 Projects
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Bronx Community District 01
384 E. 149th Street, Room 320
Bronx, NY 10455
Phone: 718.585.7117
Fax: 718.292.0558
Email: cedriclloftin@aol.com
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HUB Retail and Office Center
For over three decades debating was the only thing being done at the “Hub” site in the Bronx, along Third Avenue between 153rd and 156th Streets. On March 14th, 2006, the mayor and other elected officials took part in the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the new “Hub Retail and Office Center.” The center will provide jobs and revitalize commercial interest in the area. The area is a popular destination because four train lines and six bus lines all converge there.
Related Companies bought the property for $1 million and will build a two-story commercial building estimated to cost $57 million, of which the city is contributing $16 million. The center is scheduled to open in 2008.
Recent headlines
The Hub Continues to Expand
July 20, 2008
New York Daily News
The HUB Regaining Active Commercial Activity
December 9, 2007
New York Daily News
Finance Department Moves to the HUB
November 27, 2007
New York Daily News
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Mott Haven School Campus
The New York City School Construction Authority plans to construct a new school campus in the Concourse Village section of the Bronx on a seven-acre site at East 153rd Street and Concourse Village West. The $235 million project would be the single biggest project in the largest school construction plan in the history of New York City. The proposed campus would accommodate four schools consisting of one 544-seat charter school, one 573-seat intermediate/high school, and two 549-seat high schools. The eastern portion of the site would be developed with playing fields and open space. City officials have said that schools are needed before 2009 to alleviate overcrowding. South Bronx Churches, a coalition of neighborhood congregations, nonprofit agencies and tenant and homeowner groups, pushed the administration to build the complex and helped develop the site plan.
The site has hosted a rail yard, a laundry, a service station and a manufactured gas plant, leaving behind mercury, lead and the suspected carcinogen benzene. The SCA has a plan to minimize toxic exposure for the new school's students as well as the thousands of students who attend schools nearby. To that end, the city has allocated $30 million for the cleanup. Opponents of the plan and local officials say they are doubtful the School Construction Authority can totally eradicate the problem of soil and groundwater contamination that exceeds state environmental standards. Students and teachers at P.S. 156, a school built on stilts next to the site, have complained about rashes and headaches, which they assert are related to the area’s environmental issues.
On January 9th, 2007, the City Council unanimously approved a re-submitted plan after receiving assurances that the administration would consider clean-up recommendations by an independent consultant. The administration previously pledged $30 million to clean up the 6.6-acre Mott Haven site, but agreed last month under pressure from community groups to work out a plan to have the area independently tested for pollution. The opposition remains concerned that approval wasn’t delayed until the independent review was completed.
The independent study, done in January 2007, commissioned by the community and paid for by the city disputed previous findings. While the City planned to excavate soil up to 14 feet deep for the actual buildings, areas considered for the athletic fields and open space would not be given the same treatment and would be covered with synthetic turf and pavement. The new study challenged the viability of completing appropriate cleanup for the site for the estimated $30 million and urged complete removal of all toxic hot spots on the site in order to avoid potentially hazardous and serious health risks.
In April 2007, community opponents and environmentalists filed a lawsuit against the City claiming the School Construction Authority did not meet all the necessary requirements under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Other advocates state they are not taking the appropriate measures necessary to insure the long-term safety on the site. The City refutes these claims saying the entire process has been transparent and they have voluntarily worked with the community towards a solution. Due to the engineering used to control the pollutants on the site, community members are fighting for a long-term plan to monitor the effectiveness of these controls and catch potential breakdowns or leakages in the future.
As a result of the court case, the Department of Environmental Conservation released a plan to monitor the site in the long run. In February 2008, community opponents called for the City to pay for a consultant to review the feasibility of the plan. The City has refused to pay for this review and claims they have already exceeded legal requirements by paying for last year’s review. A private funder has offered the community $11,000 for the review in order to help promote transparency while the City is moving forward.
Recent headlines
Community Wants Independent Review of City’s Mott Haven Monitoring
February 13, 2008
New York Daily News
Contaminants at Mott Haven Still in Question
July 7, 2007
New York Post
Suit Filed over Mott Haven Schools
April 10, 2007
Metro New York
North Brother Island
The little-known North Brother Island lies in the East River off the south shore of the borough of the Bronx. At 19.3 acres in size, North Brother Island is currently one of the largest segments of city-managed greenery in the South Bronx. Due in part to a lack of open space access in the area and to the immense historic and ecological significance of the island, various community advocates and political officials are calling for increased human access to the island. However, human access could potentially pose grave conflicts with the current island inhabitants - the hundreds of shorebirds that nest here and call this island home from early spring to late fall.
Recent headlines
Forgetting and remembering the Slocum
October 25, 2004
Gotham Gazette
The General Slocum disaster
October 1, 2004
New York Newsday
Dinner With Typhoid Mary
October 1, 2004
New York Newsday
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Via Verde - New Housing New York Legacy Project
Via Verde is a proposed 18-story, 202-unit, working-class apartment complex in the Melrose section of the Bronx that won New York City’s first juried design competition for affordable and sustainable housing. The competition, known as the New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project, attracted 32 teams of architects and developers from around the world. The competition was designed to encourage the integration of sustainability and design excellence with affordable housing.
Located at Brook Avenue and East 156th Street in the South Bronx, the competition site was a 60,000-square-foot vacant lot that consists of city-owned property and a legally abandoned rail right-of-way. Currently valued at $4 million, the site will be sold by the City to PRDG for $1 in exchange for the design and construction of a mixed-use development that includes affordable housing for New Yorkers of low-, middle-, and moderate-incomes. The winning team is made up of an international architectural firm, Grimshaw Architects; a New York firm, Dattner Architects; and two developers, the Jonathan Rose Companies and the Phipps Houses Group, a New York nonprofit that develops low- and moderate-income housing. The building is to include low- and moderate-income housing bound together by courtyards and roof gardens that would be used for everything from harvesting rainwater to growing vegetables and fruit. The proposed project would include an outdoor amphitheater, apartments designed for breezes, a fitness center, wiring for Internet access, “live-work units” for people who work at home, stoops with photovoltaic canopies, even a Christmas tree farm. The co-ops would be for households making no more than 130 percent of the median income for the city, or roughly $70,000 for a family of four. The rest of the apartments would be rentals for households making less than 40 percent, between 40 and 60 percent, and between 60 and 80 percent of the median income. The low and moderate rents are to be made possible with the help of city, federal and state subsidies. Construction is expected to begin mid-2008.
Recent headlines
Via Verde May Set New Affordable Housing Standards
January 29, 2007
BusinessWeek