In New York City, residential towers are transforming the Bronx’s skyline, some luxury, others affordable. Bernheimer Architecture is almost done with River Commons, an affordable housing project at 1225 Gerard Avenue. Marvel just completed a great building in Morris Heights, adding 175 supportive housing units at 1769 Jerome Avenue.
Think! Architecture and Design, another New York office, recently finished Betances Family Apartments, offering 101 deeply affordable homes on a NYCHA site in the Bronx’s Mott Haven neighborhood. The building rises 15 stories and comprises 109,000 square feet. It has 70 units for low to moderate-income families, and 30 units for previously homeless individuals, including veterans.
The clients were Lemle & Wolff Development Company, Alembic Community Development, and The Bridge, which provides on-site supportive services for residents.
The project was built on the site of a vacant retail building at NYCHA’s Betances VI campus, hence the name. The retail building was torn down to make way for the new residential tower.
The 101 units at Betances Family Apartments ranger from studios to three-bedrooms. A children’s playroom, bike storage space, around-the-clock building security, a landscaped rooftop terrace, and a second floor community room abound.
Like the building at 1769 Jerome Avenue by Marvel, Betances Family Apartments also has on-site supportive services. These services include case management, benefits counseling, and links to community mental health, dental, and substance use treatment. The ground floor has a 10,000-square-foot retail space for commercial use, also like 1769 Jerome.
Renderings were shared in 2021 after NYCHA and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development struck a deal with developers. The exterior features a simple light colored grid, infilled with windows and panels of muted colors, the architects shared.
The surrounding context is mostly 5- and 6-story buildings, so it was a challenge making a 15-story structure not feel overwhelming or out of place. To situate the building, Think! ideated a darker recessed bank that wraps around the tower’s mid-section, at about the height of the adjacent NYCHA building.
The height was achieved thanks to widespread zoning changes unlocked by City of Yes. Mayor Eric Adams said that Betances Family Apartments set a “model for the rest of our city to follow and embody.”
Separate but related, NYCHA Betances Houses consists of 40 buildings located throughout the South Bronx that contain 1,088 units. Betances Houses have been the site of increased evictions, Human Rights Watch reported in 2022, thanks to the RAD/PACT program, which siphons off NYCHA units to private management companies.
Despite the ongoing controversy over NYCHA Betances Houses, city officials are enthusiastic about this latest project. “We consider ourselves extremely fortunate whenever we’re able to celebrate the completion of new housing on NYCHA property,” said NYCHA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt.
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