Saxa plans first Bronx project

Daren Hornig, managing partner at Saxa development company and the former head of residential brokerage Dwelling Quest, is building both his first affordable housing project and his first development in the Bronx.

The residential and commercial developer has partnered with L&M Development on the project.

The $2 million purchase of 269 East Burnside Avenue, in the Tremont section of the Bronx, closed last week.

The duo is developing the site into a 100,000-square-foot, 96-unit affordable rental development.

L&M is a New York real estate development company specializing in the financing and development of affordable housing in the city.

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“We found it and we were able to make it work,” Hornig said.

The development will be called East Burnside Apartments and will be affordable to families with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median income (a figure based on all New York City incomes and calculated annually by the federal Housing and Urban Development agency). For a family of four, the income limit is $76,800. The building will remain affordable for up to 30 years.  

The project will have 3,000 square feet of retail, and construction is slated to be done in mid-2010. 

Developers do not generally reap the financial rewards of construction of an affordable housing development until the apartments leave the affordable housing program, Hornig said.

“Affordable housing is a long-term planning play,” he said.