201 New Affordable Apartments in the Bronx Officially Open
The official grand opening of new affordable apartments in the Bronx was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
By Andie Lowenstein, Associate Editor
Bronx, NY – The official grand opening of new affordable apartments in the Bronx was celebrated Wednesday.
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) joined Azimuth Development Group, Best Development Group, the Upper Manhattan Development Corporation and partners to celebrate the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Morris Court Apartments. Speakers at the event included HPD Commissioner Vicki Been, HDC President Gary Rodney, JP Morgan Chase Senior Vice President David Walsh, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx Community Board 1 District Manager Cedric L. Loftin, and New York City Council District 17’s Maria del Carmen Arroyo.
Morris Court includes two connected six-story mid-rise buildings situated at 253 East 142nd Street and 250 East 144th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood. The property has a total of 201 affordable apartments serving low-income families earning up to 60 percent and 80 percent of Area Median Income as well as formerly homeless individuals and families.
Rezoning paired with strategic investments in affordable housing can protect affordability within a neighborhood, while transforming underused sites into means of affordability that will serve a community for many years. The successful rezoning that launched the construction of Morris Court Apartments is an example of this. It’s the first completed affordable housing project made possible by the Lower Concourse Rezoning. On June 30, 2009, the City Council embraced the Lower Concourse Rezoning to take housing development into account. The area was known as industrial, with a mix of four to 12 story loft buildings and lower-rise industrial and automotive uses.
