Colossal Bronx housing project La Central revealed

Rendering of an aerial view of La Central (Credit: Welcome2TheBronx)
Rendering of an aerial view of La Central (Credit: Welcome2TheBronx)

The outgoing Bloomberg administration has announced plans for a five-building, 985-unit mixed-income development for the Melrose section of the Bronx.

Bordered by Bergen Avenue, Brook Avenue and East 149th Street, the development was dubbed La Central and will be geared toward low- to moderate-income tenants who make 30 percent to 100 percent of the neighborhood’s average median income. Among the units will be 96 marked for so-called supportive housing, which “will serve formerly homeless veterans and New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS,” according to the announcement.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

La Central will also include retail, community facilities, open space, a new YMCA, an astronomy lab, rooftop farm and a music studio. The total estimated cost is roughly $345 million.

BRP Development Corporation, Hudson Companies, Common Ground, Comunilife, the Kretchmer Companies, ELH Management and the YMCA won the competition to build on the parcel, formerly known as the Bronxchester Urban Renewal site. The proposal must make its way through the public review process, but pending that, is slated to break ground in 2015. [Curbed]Julie Strickland