A Bronx community board is calling foul over a developer’s decision to turn a building planned as luxury housing into a homeless shelter.
Community Board 8 has asked the city’s Department of Investigation to probe the project’s developer, the Stagg Group, and its consultant, former Borough President Adolfo Carrión for “misrepresentation” in turning the 83-unit building into a shelter.
Stagg and Carrión initially said the building in question, 5731 Broadway in Kingsbridge, would house 83 mostly market-rate units with some affordable apartments. As a result, the project was eligible for tax breaks from the city.
Developer Mark Stagg dismissed the community board’s allegations. “That’s a stretch,” he told the New York Post. “It’s a free society where we are allowed to change our mind, aren’t we?”
He has said he changed his mind after Praxis, the nonprofit that will run the transitional housing, approached him.
But Community Board 8 “unanimously approved a resolution asking the Department of Investigation to determine whether a material misrepresentation was made . . . for the purpose of getting a tax benefit,” said Charles Moerdler, chairman of the board’s land use committee.
Stagg Group has been one of the most active developers in the Bronx in recent years. In June, it filed plans for a 68-unit building at 186 St. Georges Crescent. It also has projects in the works at 29 Featherbed Lane And 3469 Cannon Place. [NYP] — E.B. Solomont