Construction is progressing on 625 and 671 Brook Avenue, the final two residential buildings in the La Central complex in Melrose, The Bronx. Designed by MHG Architects and FXCollaborative, the 13- and 25-story structures will yield 420 affordable homes, including 63 supportive units for formerly homeless individuals. The buildings will also feature a 13,000-square foot community facility space, 1,500 square feet of ground-floor retail, and 7,000 square feet of landscaped gardens designed by Terrain. The project is being developed by a joint venture between Hudson Companies, BRP Companies, ELH-TKC, Breaking Ground, Comunilife, and J.P. Morgan, with the city contributing more than $137 million through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Broadway Builders is the construction company for the project.
625 Brook Avenue is known as Building C, and 671 Brook Avenue is known as Building E, as highlighted in the diagram below. The properties are bounded by Brook, Bergen, and Westchester Avenues on a block containing a completed residential building from the first phase of La Central.
Site plan for La Central, courtesy of FXCollaborative.
The shorter building at 625 Brook Avenue is topped out and in the process of being framed with metal studs and insulation boards. Framing work is also progressing concurrently on the rising superstructure of the taller 671 Brook Avenue, which has surpassed the halfway mark. A telescopic boom crane is being used to hoist materials into place across the site, while trucks deliver cement and other building supplies on the eastern side of the complex.
The site was formerly vacant before construction broke ground last summer.
625 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
625 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
625 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
625 and 671 Brook Avenues. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
625 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
671 Brook Avenue. Photo by Michel Young.
The renderings in the main photo and below preview La Central’s final two buildings. The shorter 625 Brook Avenue will be clad in red and black brick, while the taller tower at 671 Brook Avenue will feature a light gray brick façade.
Rendering of La Central. Courtesy of Hudson Companies
Below is an aerial view of the entire master plan with 625 and 671 Brook Avenue on the right.
Aerial rendering of La Central, courtesy of FXCollaborative.
The affordable units in this phase will be reserved for households earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), with a breakdown of 114 units for extremely low-income households; 106 for very low-income; 198 for low-income; and two units for building superintendents. Building E at 671 Brook Avenue will also house a rooftop telescope managed by Bronx High School of Science.
Funding for this last phase of La Central include tax-exempt bonds, low-income housing tax credits, Brownfield Tax Credits, NYSERDA grants, and capital allocations from the New York City Council. Red Stone Equity Partners is serving as tax credit syndicator, and J.P. Morgan is providing credit enhancement.
The entire La Central master plan will introduce more than 1,000 affordable homes in structures engineered to LEED and NYSERDA standards.
The nearest subways from the site are the 2 and 5 trains at the 3rd Avenue–149th Street station to the southwest.
Building C at 625 Brook Avenue is slated for completion in December 2027, and Building E at 671 Brook Avenue is aiming for completion in the first quarter of 2028, as noted on site.
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Excellent. Now we just need 200 more of these all over the city.
Thats what I said too…build baby build, could use a bunch of these in every borough
Yes, this should pretty much be the standard citywide outside Manhattan. Though actually undersized for this location.
“Central” is masculine in Spanish. So it should be “El Central”.
“El Centro” would be even better.
Hub Club
Nice pictures and cool to see vertical growth in the Bronx!
More of these developments please!! We need housing housing housing!
Unhappily, the building is already finished and yet completely isolated by fences. It looks more like a compound than part of a neighborhood. The original idea of La Central was to revitalize the area, but instead it has created more fenced-off zones where people cannot freely move. Building 626 is especially isolated, reinforcing the message that affordable housing should function like a shelter, separated from surrounding buildings. This is not revitalization. It is segregation. And it is a shame
No it’s not. The 2 buildings are literally still under construction in the photos.
What are you talking about??
He’s talking about the previous phases and he’s correct that they are fenced off.
The area experiences severe crime/anti-social issues and the fencing was added to keep people who do not live or have not been invited to the development from loitering on the grounds. The hub is one of the most impacted communities when it comes the opioid epidemic.
It will be destroyed and riddled with crime in 10 years. These buildings should be mixed income housing. Market rate AMI for the area and include 80% AMI 50% AMI and some 30% AMI.
That’s how it was originally sold to the community. No more low income housing – but mixed incomes. Different borough prez and mayor and governor. The Hub was once a place to go when the Bronx first developed. This should have remained mixed income as it was originally said.
Problem is there is a dire need for deeply affordable housing at lower AMI in this community. Better to provide quality housing with social services to these people who are already in the area than have them barely keeping afloat, overcrowded, or on the streets.
63 supportive housing units, on top of the supportive housing in the other buildings in the complex, on the top of the other supportive housing buildings in the area and the drug rehab centers. This is not revitalization. This is neighborhood suicide.
Yup – it’s called “dumping”. Manhattan and Brooklyn need more supportive housing. The South Bronx has too much already. It now has to absorb those displaced in those boroughs. It’s political dumping
in “good” neighborhoods they demand subsidized by other New Yorkers, which makes the units more expensive for those who have to pay market. While in areas where they need actual market rate renters and homeowners, they demand “one hundred percent affordable” heaven forbid someone would you the G word gentrification.
With Cee Weaver and company, you can only expect for future slums like this one.
The people who need supportive housing, they are already in the neighborhood. Better to house them appropriately and provide necessary social services.
Except a fair amount of the people that end up in these developments are “economic refugees” from Brooklyn and Manhattan. I’m not asking nor guessing
This one has gone up rather slowly. A 40+ building nearby on the Harlem River waterfront started later and topped out prior to these two.
Good infill, though they all should have been 20+ stories.
Because those buildings are market rate on the Harlem River and built with private money. These are subsidized housing. Always will take longer