www.BXTimes.com BRONX WEEKLY January 26, 2020 6
Developers break ground on Concourse affordable housing
BY KYLE VUILLE
Residents of Tremont from all walks
of life will have an opportunity to live
in a state-of-the-art apartment building
in 2022.
Non-profi t organization Unique People
Services along with Lt. Governor
Kathleen Hocul and other sponsors
gathered at the future site of 2050 Grand
Concourse on Thursday, January 16 to
kick off the construction for the 96-unit
affordable housing.
The planned 13-story, 86,176 square
foot multi-family building sits on the
northeast corner of the Grand Concourse
and East Burnside Avenue.
The project is a mixed income development
targeted to house families and
individuals in the community who are
fi ghting homelessness, drug abuse and
other personal health/wellness issues,
as well as median income workers in
the community.
“As a transit-oriented mixed-use,
mixed-income development, 2050 Grand
Concourse will provide apartments for
low-income households being priced out
of the area, bring higher earning households
into the area, and leverage the
spending power of close to 50 (Unique
Peoples Services) employees to invigorate
local businesses,” according to a
UPS press packet.
Thirty units will be controlled by
NYC’s Human Resources Administration
to house those in need.
“That is a good day for the state of
New York, to the life’s we transform,
people with mental health issues who
we can take off the streets, people with
substance abuse issues, people who
have lived the life of homelessness who
will be able to live in at least 30 of the
units we’re setting aside for them, that
is a good day for those individuals,” Lt.
Gov. Hocul said.
“That is the day we take care of the
human spirit and protect them from
what happens outside when they come
in this building, this is a place that will
be their home, but also a place of security,
to lift them up out of poverty, give
them a sense of community,” she concluded.
According to Jacqueline Dudley, Deputy
Commissioner of HRA, 2050 Grand
Concourse will be the fi rst permanent
location for supportive housing for the
city agency.
The building received awards before
even being built.
It was the recipient of the inaugural
New York’s Buildings of Excellence
Competition for its innovative and ecofriendly
features.
The building has environmentfriendly
solar panels on the roof to
generate electricity for the property to
low-fl ow plumbing fi xtures to conserve
water.
Sally Smith, a local Tremont resident
for over 50 years, said she is ecstatic
about the project and a development
such as this is way overdue.
“I’m so happy to see this project
serve the people who truly deserve it,”
Smith said. “We need to always look out
for the underdog.”
Lt. Governor Kathleen Hocul stands alongside workers from Unique People Services and other organizations
at the groundbreaking ceremony at 2050 Grand Concourse in Tremont. The new 96-unit mixed
use, mixed income apartments are set to open in 2022. Photo courtesy of Paragon Image Studios
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