Building would be Hunts Point’s first co-op in two decades
By Sudip P. Mukherjee
smukherj@hunter.cuny.edu
For the first time in more than 20 years, a new cooperative apartment building is slated to rise in Hunts Point.
Dubbed the Fox-Leggett Co-ops for the intersection where it will stand, the seven-story building will house 50 middle-income families, whose salaries can range from $37,000 to $91,000.
Many community leaders say the co-op will mark a turning point for the Hunts Point-Longwood neighborhood, bringing middle class residents to what is now the poorest of the city’s 59 community districts.
“We really wanted them,” said John Robert, district manager of Community Board 2. “We want to be and become a mixed-income community where people are able to afford more, have substantial jobs and bring more economic diversity to the neighborhood, not just poor and low-income people.”
Others, however, express concern that if wealthier people move into the neighborhood, poor people will be driven out.
“Where will we go then?” asked Cynthia Guerrero, a 40-year-old wife and mother of two who lives on Fox Street. “It comes, starts as one, but more will come.”
The building will be developed on the site of an abandoned and polluted city park. Among the many perks described for each apartment, are individual terraces and patios, washer and dryer hookups for each unit, 28 off-street parking spaces, an indoor fitness center, and nearly 7,000 square feet in community and recreation space.
The developer of the site, the Blue Sea Development Corporation, has previously worked with the city on middle- and mixed income housing projects in the Bronx, including Melrose Commons II, a collection of 30 three-family townhouses on Melrose Avenue.
The co-op is being developed under the city’s Cornerstone program, which aims to construct new mixed-income housing on vacant city-owned land. It is part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 10-year “New Housing Marketplace Plan,” which seeks to develop 165,000 new units of affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents.
“The housing market is booming citywide,” said Ted Weinstein, the Bronx director of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, “and the positive rise in new developments and housing loans has shown people that the South Bronx can handle new housing.”
The price of the apartments will vary, depending on the income of the buyer. However, three tiers of apartments have been distinguished for people who make 80%, 110%, and 130% of the Area Median Income of New York City, which is $70,900 for a family of four.
Those who later sell their apartments will be permitted to make a profit, but for the first 15 years, a percentage of the profit will have to be paid back to the city, according to Weinstein.
While some locals worry about shrinking housing opportunities for low-income residents in the South Bronx, others are concerned with the possibility of losing middle-income residents, who find housing in the city increasingly unaffordable.
Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, who grew up on Fox Street, embraces the idea of creating moderate-income housing to foster economic diversity in Hunts Point.
“Moderate income housing does two things,” said Ferrer in an e-mail response to questions. “It provides housing opportunities for those families who might otherwise have to leave as their economic circumstances improve, becoming ineligible for government-assisted housing; and it integrates the economic mix in the neighborhood, creating a healthier social and economic environment.”
One resident who would agree is 61-year-old Russell Williams, a retiree who lives on 156th Street. “I think it will help the area,” said Williams of the Fox-Leggett Co-ops. “More people with more money come, and they bring more shops, better schools, more police–it will become more safe and nice.”
“We are very optimistic,” said Weinstein. “With the drop in crime rates, and the fact that so many renters want to own, we are hopeful we are contributing to the resurgence of the South Bronx.”
But Majora Carter, executive director of Sustainable South Bronx, sounded a warning note.
Speaking generally about building middle-income housing in areas that are predominantly low-income like Hunts Point, she said, “Once people who can afford that move in, the people with limited resources have to go, which means current residents with little or no means to afford daily things like food and transportation are forced to leave.”