BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
One of the Bronx’s oldest and
largest housing projects is getting
set for a major makeover in 2023.
The New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA) is planning
$445 million worth of renovations
for the apartments at Edenwald
Houses in the northeast section of
the borough, through a program
that uses public-private partnerships
to convert more than 9,500
public housing units, including
the neighboring Baychester
Houses.
In 2018, Baychester Houses
were turned from public housing
into Section 8, a federal housing
subsidy program, and included
a $40 million renovation of the
property, according to the housing
authority.
According to an NYCHA
spokesperson, the latest project
will impact nearly 4,800 residents
and more than 2,000 apartments.
For decades, octogenrian Mae
Richardson has lived in the Edenwald
Houses — a development
that was established in 1953 and
incorporates the Laconia and
Eastchester neighborhoods —
and said that the near-70-year-old
building has needed repairs and
upgrades for “a while.”
The projects comprise 40 residential
buildings spread across
48 acres.
“I’ve lived here since the ’70s
and the infrastructure hasn’t
changed in that time and I know
that we’ve been yelling about
needing upgrades to some of the
commons spaces,” said Richardson,
who is one of 5,000 residents
living in the Edenwald portfolio.
Based on renderings, the Edenwald
rehabilitation project will
include improvements to building
envelopes, mechanical systems,
and individual units with
particular focus on energy effi
ciency, the creation of quality
housing, and reducing the portfolio’s
overall carbon emissions.
The project will also deliver
a fully renovated senior center,
new laundry facilities, improved
waste management, and exterior
site improvements including security,
paved walkways, and outdoor
green spaces, according to
the NYCHA.
The Edenwald Houses, some
tenants say, hasn’t been given the
fairest treatment or investment
Current and proposed visuals of large-scale renovations to the Edenwald Houses in the Bronx. Photo courtesy
NYCHA
from the city, however.
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Tenants like Delano Royce, 30,
told the Bronx Times that when
the NYPD began conducting raids
at the Edenwald Houses — a 2016
raid in the Edenwald Houses and
Eastchester Gardens led to the
arrest of 87 individuals with 120
charged, all of whom were members
of two rival gangs — it left an
unfair black mark on residents of
the Edenwald Houses.
“This area gets a lot of mess because
of the raid and we get seen as
this janky project building, when
really most of us are just trying
to live in New York City affordably,”
he said. “But when you have
the cops staking out the building
on the regular and your building
is associated with gangs — it’s like
we’re a sunken cost to the city.”
The NYCHA owns the Edenwald
Houses plot and will administer
the Section 8 subsidy, set
rents, manage the wait-list for vacant
apartments, and address conditions
at the development.
But residents like Royce will be
allowed to provide their input on
the Edenwald rehabilitation project.
NYCHA’s project partners
include Camber Property
Group, Henge Development, and
SAA|EVI Development, who according
to NYCHA, will engage
with current residents and com
munity groups to refi ne all renovation
plans.
The selected project team will
use the Rental Assistance Demonstration
program to transition
operating subsidies to the Project-
Based Section 8 program and fi -
nance the 20-year capital needs at
the development.
“The selection of this development
team, and the process used
for that selection, highlight the
important changes NYCHA continues
to make to improve the
PACT program in partnership
with its residents,” said Vicki
Been, deputy mayor for housing
and economic development.
The selected project partners
will be responsible for the day-today
management and operation of
the development.
NYCHA to upgrade
Edenwald Houses
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