Mo Vaughn’s Omni NY files plans for 154-unit Bronx rental

Mo Vaughn and Eugene Schneur’s Omni New York is planning a 154-unit Bronx rental building, according to a permit application filed Tuesday with the city’s Department of Buildings.

The 15-story development at 2956 Park Avenue in the Bronx’s Melrose neighborhood will share a block with Omni’s existing 216-unit complex Maria Lopez Plaza. Two years ago, the company broke ground on a 176-unit, $63.8 million affordable housing project on an adjacent site at 655 Morris Avenue.

According to the filing, 2956 Park Avenue will include an undisclosed amount of affordable units. William Vitaco Associates is the architect of record.

Omni, a company founded by Schneur and former baseball star Vaughn, specializes in affordable and Section 8 housing.

“We’ve never taken anything out of affordability, and we’ve never sold anything,” Schneur told The Real Deal in a 2014 interview.

The company bought Maria Lopez Plaza for $19 million in 2008 and spent an additional $6 million on renovations, financed in part through bonds and a loan from the New York City Housing Development Corporation.

Long a haven for Section 8 housing, the South Bronx has recently seen a spike in more upscale development. For example, Somerset Partners and the Chetrit Group are developing six residential buildings along with coffee shops and art galleries at 2401 Third Avenue and 101 Lincoln Avenue in Mott Haven.