The Bronx

A vacant waterfront site in the booming South Bronx will give way to an enormous affordable housing complex with 1,045 residential units, a home for the much-hyped Universal Hip-Hop Museum, a waterfront esplanade and outdoor performance space, a multiplex theater, and, of course, a food hall, in this case curated by Anna Castellani of Brooklyn's wildly popular Dekalb Market Hall. The Real Deal reports that L+M Development Partners won the bid for the $200 million project, dubbed Bronx Point, which is located adjacent to Mill Pond Park and the 145th Street Bridge that runs into Manhattan.
More details ahead

September 12, 2017

For less than $500K, live like you’re on vacation in this adorable City Island cottage

The seashore village of City Island, an island off the Bronx that's about a mile and a half long by a half mile wide, offers a lifestyle arguably not found anywhere else in NYC. It's like a less-touristy version of Cape Cod but is still accessible from Manhattan via the 6 train and an express bus. And if this nautical, vacation-type vibe is what you're looking for, then this fairy tale-esque cottage may be just the ticket. Plus, it's asking a hair under $500,000, an attribute definitely only found on island time.
Get a look around

Distinctive Homes

Häagen-Dazs may be a Danish name, but the ice cream was founded in the Bronx

Häagen-Dazs’ store in the Bronx, via Yelp

September 6, 2017

Häagen-Dazs may be a Danish name, but the ice cream was founded in the Bronx

By Emily Nonko

Despite its European-sounding name, Häagen-Dazs is actually born and bred right here in New York. In fact, there's a fascinating history behind how the brand reached national success under a seemingly random title, picked by two immigrants from Poland. It all started in 1921, when the Polish Jewish couple Reuben and Rose Mattus emigrated to New York, according to Atlas Obscura. They worked for the family's ice cream business, selling fruit ice and ice cream pops from a horse-drawn wagon in the busy streets of the Bronx. In the 1960s, Reuben and Rose struck out on their own, starting an ice cream company with three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee.
Here's why they named it Häagen-Dazs

History

September 1, 2017

Mixed-income Mott Haven building opens lottery for 163 affordable units, starting at $788/month

Not only has Mott Haven been dubbed the next "it" 'hood, but it's become one of the city's top areas for large, new affordable housing sites. One such development, the three-building Crossroads Plaza, is a $157 million project from Douglaston Development that will all together bring 425 units of affordable housing to the South Bronx, as well as a 20,000-square-foot public plaza. The first building opened in 2015, the second the following year, and now the city is accepting applications for the final phase at 828 East 149th Street. The 163-unit building is open to those earning 60, 100, 110, and 120 percent of the area median income, and apartments range from $788/month studios to $2,120/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify here

Affordable Housing

Apply for 22 energy-efficient apartments at a passive house in the Bronx from $865/month

Rendering of 3365 Third Avenue courtesy of Curtis+Ginsberg Architects

August 31, 2017

Apply for 22 energy-efficient apartments at a passive house in the Bronx from $865/month

Applications are currently being accepted for 22 affordable apartments at 3365 Third Avenue in the Bronx neighborhood of Morrisania. Developed by Bronx Pro Group and designed by Curtis+Ginsberg Architects, the project meets the passive house standard by featuring energy-efficient measures such as fiberglass triple-pane windows, LED lighting, and low-flow water fixtures -- all of which will result in energy reduction savings as high as high as nearly 90 percent. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 60 or 100 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, ranging from $865/month studios to$1,969/month four-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Early public floating bath. Image: New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

August 30, 2017

Floating pools on the Hudson and East Rivers kept New Yorkers cool as early as 1870

With summer winding down, New Yorkers are treading water til fall arrives–with late-season heat and kids that still need to be kept busy, back-to-school or not. The good news: Most city pools are open until September 10. This form of easily-accessible fun has been keeping NYC cool since the early days of the 20th century. The New York Times tells of the first city pools and their origins as public baths as early as 1901–and the even older pontoon-pools that floated in the Hudson and East Rivers.
More on the history of the floating pool, this way

New renderings of South Bronx passive house feature vegetated roof deck and solar shading

Rendering of 425 Grand Concourse, courtesy of Dattner Architects

August 24, 2017

New renderings of South Bronx passive house feature vegetated roof deck and solar shading

Adding to the passive house development push happening in New York City, Dattner Architects released new renderings of their energy-saving project at 425 Grand Concourse in the South Bronx’s Mott Haven neighborhood. Formerly the site of the Gothic-style P.S. 31, the mixed-use and mixed-income development will sit at the corner of Grand Concourse and East 144th Street. According to CityRealty, when it opens in 2020, this project will be the tallest in Mott Haven and the largest development of its kind in the country (though East Harlem's massive Sendero Verde complex will steal the title soon after). The highly-insulated building features a vegetated roof deck, solar shading, solar panels, cogen power generation, and an energy recovery system.
See the design

Take a free tour of City Island, Bronx with the ‘land ferry’

City Island Diner, courtesy of cisc1970 via photopin

August 18, 2017

Take a free tour of City Island, Bronx with the ‘land ferry’

A small town in the northeastern part of the Bronx, City Island sits about 1.5 miles long by half of a mile wide. While its quaint nautical-vibe seems out of place in New York City, City Island is very much a part of the Bronx’s history. Thanks to the City Island Chamber of Commerce, New Yorkers who want to learn about the island can ride the “land ferry,” or a decorated minibus, on the island for a free tour of the neighborhood’s artistic and musical sites, as amNY reported. The blue painted bus with wood paneling picks up riders, from April to December, at the end of the No. 6 train in Pelham Bay Park on the first Friday of every month.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

Apply for 43 new affordable units in Highbridge, from $558/month

Photo by Shinya Suzuki / Flickr

August 17, 2017

Apply for 43 new affordable units in Highbridge, from $558/month

Applications are now being accepted for 43 newly constructed units at the Excelsior II, an affordable housing building in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. Designed by SLCE Architects, the building at 120-126 West 169th Street rises nine stories and features 60 units. New Yorkers earning 40, 50 and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for units ranging from $558 per month one-bedrooms to a $1,065 per month two-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

De Blasio and Cuomo announce plans to eradicate ‘symbols of hate’ in New York

Image via Alisdare Hickson/flickr

August 17, 2017

De Blasio and Cuomo announce plans to eradicate ‘symbols of hate’ in New York

After a violent weekend led by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Virginia, New York officials have announced plans to review and remove controversial public structures. Mayor de Blasio said on Wednesday the city will conduct a 90-day review of “all symbols of hate on city property,” by putting together a panel of experts and community leaders who will make recommendations for items to take down (h/t NY Post). On Wednesday, Governor Cuomo called upon the United States Army to reconsider its decision to keep the street names that honor Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, two Confederate leaders, at Fort Hamilton. Cuomo also announced the removal of the busts of Lee and Jackson from CUNY’s Hall of Fame for Great Americans in the Bronx.
Find out more

July 28, 2017

133 affordable units up for grabs near Yankee Stadium, from $548/month

Applications are currently being accepted for 133 newly constructed, affordable units at 810 River Avenue in the Bronx, across from the old Yankee Stadium and just steps away from the team’s new playing field. The building includes approximately 26,000 square-feet of commercial and community facility space and a 61-space garage. Designed by SLCE Architects, the 17-story steel and plank tower features high-performance windows, Energy Star dishwashers, laundry rooms and hardwood floors. New Yorkers earning 40, 60, 90 and 130 percent of the area median income can apply for available units ranging from a $538 per month studio to $2,113 per month three-bedroom.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

July 14, 2017

Lottery opens for 26 affordable units in the South Bronx’s new supportive housing building

A year and a half ago, the nonprofit Unique People Services broke ground on Lynn's Place, an affordable and supportive housing project in the South Bronx.The $25 million+ project was financed by the city and various organizations and will feature community space on the ground floor, a sunken courtyard, a landscaped back yard, and a seventh-floor green roof, in addition to on-site support services. Of its 69 units, 42 are set aside for individuals with a mental illness or those who were formerly homeless. The remaining apartments are reserved for those earning 50 or 60 percent of the area median income. Ranging from $710/month studios to $1,107/month two-bedrooms, they've come online through the city's affordable housing lottery as of today.
Get the details

Affordable Housing

July 13, 2017

Dry ice and solar power to be used in city’s $32M rat battle

Mayor Bill de Blasio declared Wednesday that he wanted "more rat corpses" in a $32 million crusade to rid the city's most plagued neighborhoods of the scurrying scourge. The New York Times reports that parts of lower Manhattan, the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn and the Grand Concourse in the Bronx are the focus of the latest campaign that hopes to reduce the number of rats in those areas by 70 percent by the close of 2018. Among the battle's newly-forged weapons are 336 $7,000 solar-powered rat-proof garbage bins and an EPA-approved–and apparently very effective–method of killing rats in their holes using dry ice.
Psst...hey...pizza over here

City Living

July 13, 2017

Design concept replaces Rikers jail with community-based ‘justice hubs’

Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice, along with the Van Alen Institute, released a set of guidelines to decentralize Rikers Island and improve city jails in every borough. The "Justice in Design" report outlines recommendations for healthier jails, including interior and exterior design elements, greater amenities, and ways to better integrate the jail with the surrounding neighborhood. As one of the first steps to permanently closing Rikers, these new justice hubs, or decentralized borough-based jails, would be tailored to the needs of detainees, officers, lawyers, visitors and community members.
See the design concepts

July 3, 2017

62 affordable units up for grabs in Fordham Heights, from $882/month

Applications are currently being accepted for 62 newly constructed, affordable units at 2264 Morris Avenue in the Fordham Heights neighborhood of the Bronx. The building provides ecologically viable features, including rooms with abundant natural light, high-tech water, heating and cooling systems and spacious outdoor space. New Yorkers earning 60 and 100 percent of the area median income can apply for available units ranging from $822/month one-bedrooms to $1,740/month three bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Photo of Rikers Island courtesy of Wikimedia

June 22, 2017

De Blasio releases city’s plan to close Rikers, claims it ‘will not be easy’

In April, Mayor de Blasio announced his support of closing the jail complex on Rikers Island after protests and calls from activists and public officials. In a proposal released Thursday, the mayor says closing Rikers will take at least ten years and will require a big decline in the number of inmates there, a drop in crime rates and significant funding. As the New York Times reported, according to the city’s 51-page report, in order to close Rikers within a decade, the population at the complex needs to drop to 5,000. Currently, the daily population is about 9,400, much lower than the average of 20,000 inmates the prison held during the 1990s.
Find out more

Policy

June 19, 2017

124 chances to live in the burgeoning South Bronx, from $822/month

The South Bronx is arguably the city's largest hotbed of new affordable housing development, and the latest chance to live in the up-and-coming 'hood for less than market rate starts today for 124 units at 530 Exterior Street in Mott Haven. Here, New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income can apply for apartments ranging from $822/month studios to $1,224/month three-bedrooms. The 13-story building is part of a larger, mixed-use project, right near Mill Pond Park on the Harlem River and the 145th Street Bridge to Harlem. The other two components are a similarly low- and moderate-income housing building at 491 Gerard Avenue and a 152-room Hampton Inn hotel with commercial space and ground-floor retail.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

June 1, 2017

101 affordable units up for grabs in the Bronx’s Morrisania, from $368/month

Applications are currently being accepted for 101 affordable apartments in La Casa Del Mundo, a newly constructed housing development at 3475 Third Avenue in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx. New Yorkers earning 30, 40, 50 and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the available units, ranging from a $368/month studio to $1,224/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Redeveloping NYC’s armories: When adaptive reuse and community building bring controversy

Park Avenue Armory, image © PBDW Architects

May 30, 2017

Redeveloping NYC’s armories: When adaptive reuse and community building bring controversy

Constructed between the 18th and 20th centuries to resemble massive European fortresses and serve as headquarters, housing, and arms storage for state volunteer militia, most of America’s armories that stand today had shed their military affiliations by the later part of the 20th century. Though a number of them did not survive, many of New York City’s historic armories still stand. While some remain in a state of limbo–a recent setback in the redevelopment plans of Brooklyn's controversial Bedford-Union Armory in Crown Heights raises a familiar battle cry–the ways in which they've adapted to the city’s rollercoaster of change are as diverse as the neighborhoods that surround them.
Find out how the city's armories have fared

Lottery opens for 14 affordable units at new Bronx supportive housing development

View of the development’s block via Google Street View

May 22, 2017

Lottery opens for 14 affordable units at new Bronx supportive housing development

Praxis Housing Initiatives "is NYC’s largest provider of transitional housing to homeless people with HIV/AIDS and is one of city’s lowest cost/highest service housing providers." As part of its 2012 strategic plan, the organization began a permanent supportive housing program, and in just two years time they opened their first development in the Bronx. In 2015, they closed on the second at 2264 Loring Place North in Kings Bridge Heights and built an eight-story, 66-unit building. Of these apartments, 14 are reserved for community-based affordable housing for those earning 60 percent of the area median income. They include $931/month one-bedrooms and $1,123/month two-bedrooms and have just come online through the city's affordable housing lottery.
All the logistics ahead

Affordable Housing

Citi Bike looks at major five-borough expansion

Image by Nick Harris flickr CC

May 18, 2017

Citi Bike looks at major five-borough expansion

Image by Nick Harris flickr CC 6sqft recently reported that so many people are hopping on Citi Bikes that even bus ridership has been affected. But there are parts of New York City–Staten Island and the Bronx for example–don't have that option because the familiar blue bikes haven't made it into their neighborhoods–yet. Citi Bike parent company, Motivate, has approached City Hall with a plan that would add 6,000 bikes to the system–4,000 of them in areas that currently have no docks–without spending tax revenue, the New York Daily News reports.
Find out more

Transit

87 mixed-income apartments up for grabs at new Mott Haven rental The Graham, from $386/month

255 East 138th Street via MHG Architects

May 17, 2017

87 mixed-income apartments up for grabs at new Mott Haven rental The Graham, from $386/month

Applications are currently being accepted for 87 affordable apartments in The Graham, a new sustainable building located in the Mott Haven section of the South Bronx. The eight-story building at 255 East 138th Street has a full floor of retail at the street level, bike room, outdoor terrace and underground parking garage. New Yorkers earning 30, 40, 50, 60 and 100 percent of the area median income can apply for the mixed-income units, ranging from $368/month studios to $1,683/month three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Nine affordable units in the Bronx’s West Farms up for grabs, from $1,348/month

Photo @6sqft/Stephanie Hoina

May 16, 2017

Nine affordable units in the Bronx’s West Farms up for grabs, from $1,348/month

Applications are currently being accepted for nine newly constructed affordable units at 866 East 178th Street in the West Farms section of the Bronx. West Farms, which underwent the largest private rezoning in the Bronx ever a few years ago, is located in the southwest of the borough. Residents here can enjoy plenty of green space with access to the Bronx Park, Zoo and the Bronx River. New Yorkers earning 80 percent of the area median income can apply to rent four one-bedrooms for $1,348 per month and five two-bedrooms for $1,521 per month.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

Apply for eight affordable units in the Bronx’s bustling Melrose, from $1,348/month

Photo by Futurebird via Wikimedia Commons

May 10, 2017

Apply for eight affordable units in the Bronx’s bustling Melrose, from $1,348/month

Located in the evolving Melrose neighborhood of the South Bronx, eight newly constructed units are available to rent at 407 East 160th Street. As the Bronx continues to undergo major residential and commercial development, Melrose sits as the epicenter of these changes. It has a bustling district known as the Hub, or the Times Square of the Bronx, which features many retail stores, restaurants and entertainment options. New Yorkers earning 80 percent of the area median income can apply to rent four $1,348/month one-bedrooms and four $1,521/month two-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

City backs away from Yankee Stadium parkland promise in favor of residential high rise

Photo via Wikipedia

May 8, 2017

City backs away from Yankee Stadium parkland promise in favor of residential high rise

The city’s Economic Development Corp. has announced its support for plans to build up to 1,045 units of market-rate and affordable housing and commercial space on a vacant four-acre stretch of East 149th Street in The Bronx, the New York Post reports. The city had promised a decade ago to replace the more than 25 acres of parkland that was lost when the new Yankee Stadium was greenlighted in 2005; the vacant space was to be the last leg of the Mill Pond Park, off the Harlem River. Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates, a watchdog group, said the "sleazy switcheroo" “screams of Brooklyn Bridge Park all over again," referring to promised waterfront parkland that that became high-rise housing instead.
Find out what's up

New food hall may arrive at an empty railway station in the South Bronx

Conceptual rendering courtesy of Raft Architects

May 8, 2017

New food hall may arrive at an empty railway station in the South Bronx