Plans have been filed for two affordable rental buildings in the Longwood section of the South Bronx, close to the Simpson Street stop on the 2 and 5 trains.
The larger building would rise eight stories and have 120 apartments. They’d be spread across 114,351 square feet of residential space, creating nicely sized average units of 952 square feet. Those are family-sized apartments, probably plenty of three-bedrooms.
The first floor would host 14 units, and the second through sixth floors would have 16 units each. The seventh and eighth floors would each hold 13 units.
A laundry room, gym and lobby area would fill the rest of the ground floor, and a community center and parking for 60 bikes and 14 cars would occupy the cellar. There will also be off-street parking for another 22 cars, bringing the total number of spots up to 36. The developers have cut their parking spots in half thanks to the administration’s new zoning changes, which will eliminate parking requirements for affordable projects.
The second building in the project is planned on the next block over, at 960 Simpson Street. The six-story structure would have 80 units and 73,269 square feet of residential space. Average units would be a bit smaller at 915 square feet. And an underground parking garage would offer room for 24 cars in the cellar.
White Plains-based architect Peter Clements will be responsible for the design, and the developer is Property Resources Corporation, which is headquartered on Madison Avenue in Midtown East.
PRC plans to build on a large yard and a parking lot inside a Section 8 housing complex. Built in 1981, the Maria Estela Houses includes four six-story buildings with 236 apartments. Property Resources purchased the sprawling affordable development for $18 million in 2012. Before that, the city owned the property, which spans 193,000 square feet between Fox Street, Westchester Avenue, 163rd Street, and Southern Boulevard. Simpson Street cuts through the middle of the complex, but the city closed off part of the street to cars when it developed the huge lot, creating a kind of super block.
The larger of the two buildings would fill 40 percent of the rear yard. The 37,000-square-foot green space is currently used as a sitting area and a playground, and we hope that the developer preserves plenty of outdoor space with the new building.
1000 Fox Street and 960 Simpson Street, image via Bing Maps
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