Affordable housing projects are cropping up on vacant lots all over the South Bronx, and today’s development will rise at 294 East 162nd Street, between Morris and Teller avenues in Melrose.
The loss of the 421-a tax abatement has certainly hurt development in the Bronx, but a few determined builders are still venturing out to parts of the borough where new construction is rare. Chelsea-based developer Kim Tasher has filed plans for a five-story residential and medical building at 1144 Evergreen Avenue, in the southeast Bronx neighborhood of Soundview.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) have launched a request for expressions of interest (RFEI) for the 158,000-square-foot development site at 65 East 149th Street, located in the South Bronx’s Lower Concourse section. The hope is for a development team to propose a mixed-use building with an assortment of affordable residential units, commercial space, and community facilities, DNAinfo reported. In addition, there will have to be public open space, which will hopefully be in the form of a waterfront esplanade (the site fronts the Harlem River). Infrastructure upgrades are also part of the project. The vacant site is located five blocks from the 149th Street-Grand Concourse stop on the 2 and 5 trains. Responses are due by October 11.
A long-vacant South Bronx lot in Highbridge may become new housing. Building applications were filed last week to develop eight stories of apartments at 1285 Edward L Grant Highway, on the corner of West 169th Street.
The Mott Haven waterfront is booming with market-rate development, but the neighborhood’s northern border with Melrose is still a bastion of affordable and supportive housing.
