Here’s an interesting piece on a topic close to home in The Bronx: Affordable Housing.
The article skims the surface of what is a tangled web in which affordable housing developers have to navigate which is so much deeper than Next City can even get into but it does speak briefly about the Jerome Avenue Study area and other parts of New York City.
This is an excellent discussion considering the Jerome Avenue Study Area that is going on in The Bronx. Take a look at the video below. If you can’t view it, follow the link below.
Welcome2TheBronx teamed up with Curbed to help identify several major projects in The Bronx that are considered to be game changers in our borough.
For decades, the Bronx has been ignored in the larger conversation of a changing New York City. But as big developers like Chetrit Group and Greystone turn their eyes north, and Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. announces his lofty desires for creating a Brooklyn Bridge Park-style public space along the Harlem River, it seems like momentum is starting to build around the fledgling borough. “The South Bronx has experienced an unprecedented amount of capital flowing in the past years over some major developments,” Ed García Conde of Welcome2theBronx tells Curbed.
One of the hottest topics in Bronx real estate is the proposed Cromwell-Jerome Avenue Study area which has the potential to transform a 73 block area which overlapping two community districts and multiple neighborhoods.
Gary Axelbank, the host of the long running BronxTalk, help a two-part series of discussions on the issues with the first having aired Monday, March 10 with Carol Samol on the show to talk more about the process and the study. On Monday, the second air showed which gave community groups such as CASA and Local 79 a chance to present their thoughts and ideas on the situation at hand.
Watch the videos on the conversation and let us know what you think.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Planning have a rough road ahead with Bronx residents.
Last night, hundreds of residents from within the Jerome Avenue Study Area (estimates had the crowd at at least 400 attending despite the weather), gathered to join in solidarity against a rezoning that the community feels is not about them or with them. Residents and community groups are so concerned yet so organized they have even formed a group and an umbrella alliance of all stakeholders calling themselves ‘Bronx Coalition for a Community Vision’.
The United Auto Merchant Association is holding a volunteer orientation meeting tomorrow at 12PM in order to mobilize auto merchants in the proposed Jerome Avenue Study / Rezoning Area. The orientation will be held at 1332 Commerce Avenue (Next to the Department of Motor Vehicles).
About 3 years ago, Welcome2TheBronx wrote about the possibility of having the Metro North rail yards in Melrose at 149th Street decked over much like the Hudson Rail Yards and have it developed into office space and affordable housing. Today, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr made a similar proposal along with two other Bronx locations stating that since Queens didn’t want it to happen at the Sunnyside yards, The Bronx would be happy to take those monies.
The other 2 locations identified are the 4 train rail yards by Lehman College in Bedford Park just west of the Grand Concourse and the 1 train rail yards just west of Broadway between Riverdale and Kingsbridge.
A report by investment firm Ariel Property Advisors recently reported that The Bronx saw a record $2.4 billion in sales of residential properties. Now, in an interview with the firm’s president, Shimon Shkury, reveals to New York Real Estate Journal that Melrose led the borough in such sales with
When the Cromwell-Jerome Study Area Jerome Avenue Study Area (City Planning has since changed the name) was announced last year, it stirred a lot of controversy as residents saw it an attempt to rebrand existing neighborhoods of the West Bronx and pave the way for gentrification via rezoning — a tool often used by the previous administration often without regard to community residents who lived in the areas. The study area grew from 57 blocks to a massive 73 blocks.
Now, as the Jerome Avenue Study Area was announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio as one of the 6 areas slated for rezonings, community groups and even local elected officials are getting residents together to discuss the future and fate of their neighborhoods at a meeting scheduled for March 5th — after all, these are the very people who will be impacted by any zoning changes the city eventually will implement to increase density.
In the summer of 2014, 53,000+ people applied to live in 89 affordable apartments at Artspace PS109. This has become an all too common scene in New York City’s housing market. Decades of public subsidies and assistance for luxury development in NYC have increased property values and rents all across the city. This rise has led to the displacement of working- and middle-class families. The main “community benefit” in return for publicly assisted displacement has been the opportunity to enter an affordable housing lottery and hope Yolanda Vega calls your number, allowing you to remain.
Real Estate Weekly reported that The Bronx saw a record breaking increase in sales of multifamily properties reaching $2.4 billion in transactions in 2014 as per data published by Ariel Property Advisors’ Bronx 2014 Year-End Report. Meanwhile, developer Cherit Group is reportedly planning to construct six 25 story towers along the Port Morris waterfront of market rate apartments and condominiums.
During the State of The City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $200 million investment in the South Bronx waterfront for development as a focus of his administration’s agenda. The Mayor also announced that new ferry services being touted for the East Bronx and Far Rockaway in Queens will cost the same as a subway fare — something which Welcome2TheBronx insisted had to occur in order for it to be an equitable service that truly serves the people of The Bronx.
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