BY ALIYA SCHNEIDER
A former Kingsbridge
church site may have a future
as a school and affordable housing
development.
The New York City School
Construction Authority (SCA)
presented a proposed school
site to the Community Board
8 Land Use Committee on Dec.
7 for the former Church of the
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary parking lot, on John Collins
Place between 239th Street
and Van Cortlandt Park South.
The school would seat 646 students.
“We’re working with the developer,
who owns the full lot,
including the former church
site, but our project on the John
Collins portion would be a
standalone building and be independent
of their development
plans,” Nicole Holloway, SCA
Bronx community relations
manager told CB8.
But the private developer
— TS Communities, Tishman
Speyer’s affordable housing
branch, which announced its
fi rst project, Edgemere Commons
last month — has not
purchased the site, which is
still owned by the Archdiocese,
a spokesman for the international
development company
confi rmed with the Bronx
Times.
“TS Communities and the
New York City School Construction
Authority are, in cooperation,
pursuing a possible
redevelopment of the former
Visitation Parish Church site
that would bring much-needed
school seats and quality affordable
housing to the Kingsbridge
neighborhood,” the
spokesman said in a statement.
The developer is considering
building 340 units, state
Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz,
a Democrat, told the Bronx
Times. While there is a need
for housing, Dinowitz called
it excessive to have that many
units concentrated on a single
site, which consists of the parking
lot, former church and former
school.
Dinowitz said he has been
advocating for a school to be
built on this site for several
years. “It’s literally at the
crossroads of four different
school zones in our district, all
of which are overcrowded,” he
said.
The legislator surmised the
housing development would
likely help fund the school construction.
CB8 member Rosemary
Ginty said the combined school
and housing uses pose important
land-use issues, given traffi
c around the site.
“I think that’s a pretty hefty
school,” said Ginty, who also
sits on CB8’s Land Use Committee.
“Which is good news,
but something that has to be
looked at, especially in conjunction
with a new housing
development, which we know
nothing about.”
In response, Zeeshan Ott,
SCA director of External Affairs
emphasized that the
school plan is separate from
the developer’s adjacent housing
plans for the same property.
But Ginty wasn’t convinced,
calling it impossible for one developer
to plan neighboring
sites independently. “I was not
born yesterday,” she said.
Gayle Mandero, senior di
rector for SCA’s real estate division,
said SCA will coordinate
with the neighboring project as
they would with any residential
neighbor.
School District 10 has a seat
need of 2,925, the highest in the
Bronx. According to Holloway,
2,060 of those seats are in the
Kingsbridge-Norwood-Bedford
Park subdistrict. The need is
calculated by SCA by assessing
school capacity and future enrollment
projections, including
increased demand resulting
from projected new housing.
The SCA doesn’t know
which students would attend
the school, as district lines
would be determined by the
city Department of Education
after construction is complete,
Ott said.
Comments on the site proposal
can be submitted to
sites@nycsca.org until Jan. 3,
2022.
Sight
BUY ONE PAIR OF COMPLETE EYEGLASSES,
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, D 2 EC. 17-23, 2021 BTR
A proposed school would be built on an old parking lot, which is currently
fenced off. Photo Pablo D. Castillo Jr.
School, housing proposed for
Kingsbridge church site
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