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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, MARCH 25-31, 2022 BXR
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Construction of a 200-bed men’s
transient shelter and health care
clinic that’s set for construction
in the Westchester Square section
won’t be completed until 2024 after
the state’s Department of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) found
toxic chemicals and contaminants
at a nearby abandoned auto yard.
The former Boyle Auto Wreckers
Site — located at 1346 Blondell
Ave. — is scheduled for site remediation
this summer, which includes
the removal of polluted or
contaminated soil, sediment, surface
water or groundwater, to reduce
the impact on people or the
environment. According to the
DEC’s assessment, the former
trucking site was closed by the
state Department of Environmental
Protection due to gasoline and
waste oil spills, and regular tireburning,
which contaminated the
quality of the air in October 1997.
Officials from the city’s Department
of Homeless Services
said they notified residents about
the shelter plans and a possible
delayed opening on Jan. 29, 2020,
but some residents told the Bronx
Times they never received notification
about the new timeline.
DEC officials told the Bronx
Times that the five lot, 1064-acre
site at 1346 Blondell Ave. — which
DEC assessed in 2018 and found
had contaminants such as lead,
mercury and other air and soil
pollutants — will need significant
treatment to the groundwater before
the shelter’s construction.
In August 2020, Foremost Real
Estate under the 1400 Blondell
LLC, filed permits with the city
Department of Buildings to construct
a 3-story building for a
transient shelter and health care
clinic at 1374 Blondell Ave., in
Westchester Square.
The facility is expected to
stand around 44-feet tall, stretch
across 1364-1400 Blondell Ave.,
include 18 units, and have 31,362
square feet for commercial space
and 3,013 square feet for community
facility space.
Additionally, some residents
believe that the Blondell Avenue
shelter is misplaced in their district
and fear that the contaminated
1346 Blondell site is a risk to
anyone in the area.
“I am not against homeless
shelters. I myself was homeless
for two years as a teenager,” said
Westchester Square-Zerega Improvement
Organization Director
Sandi Lusk. “However, the
super-duper ultra concentration
of these kind of facilities between
only a few blocks is a disgrace. It’s
criminal, and it’s deliberately targeting
this community.”
The shelter, which was initially
slated to open in 2021, is officially
located in Community District
11, but Westchester Square,
which is split between three community
district boundary lines, is
also across the street from Community
District 10.
A second 200-bed men’s shelter
proposal in the Westchester
Square section, also in CD 11 on
Poplar Street, has also drawn residential
backlash due to its siting
location near Easterseals Bronx
Child Development Center, which
caters services to roughly 200
young children with disabilities.
Bronx CD11 is the only Bronx
district that doesn’t have a currently
operational shelter, and
NYC Department of Homeless
The surrounding area on Blondell Avenue, where a 200-bed men’s shelter
will be constructed, is filled with vacant properties and abandoned cars.
Services (DHS) officials told the
Times that they will be prioritizing
placement of individuals
from the Bronx, particularly
CD11, at the Blondell residence.
NYC-based nonprofit Care for
the Homeless will be tasked with
overseeing the shelter’s day-today
operations, according to DHS.
“Whenever DSS-DHS approves
a proposal for a shelter,
the only result we accept is a finished
product that is ready for occupancy,
operated by a qualified
not-for-profit provider-partner, offering
the services and supports
that meet the high standards we
seek to provide to New Yorkers experiencing
Photo | Adrian Childress
homelessness,” said a
DSS spokesperson in a statement.
According to DHS officials,
there are 14,300 individuals experiencing
homelessness and residing
in shelters in the Bronx, and
by their last count, which is November
2021, there were 105 DHS
shelter locations.
The 1346 Blondell site has been
used for a variety of purposes
since the late 19th century, when
it was originally developed with
several small residential homes in
the late 1800s. It was converted to
commercial use around 1929-1930,
when the current commercial
building was constructed.
Remediation pushes timeline for
Westchester Square shelter to 2024