The controversial planned 1,300 luxury development along the Harlem River Waterfront in the South Bronx’s Port Morris neighborhood is now slated to include “affordable” housing.
But affordable for who?
Spread across seven buildings at the foot of the Third Avenue Bridge at 2401 Third Avenue and 101 Lincoln Avenue, the development has still yet to make progress but now it seems that construction is imminent as Brookfield Properties purchased the development site from Somerset Partners and The Chetrit Group, the original masterminds behind the “Piano District” failed rebranding.
According to the Real Deal, construction is set to begin next year by the second quarter of 2019.
It will be interesting to see how quickly they can fill up these units considering that 25 Bruckner has been on the market for over a year now and it is still not near 100% occupancy.
Getting renters to pay thousands of dollars and having to walk over 5 blocks to the nearest subway and cross under a highway may be a tough sell for many.
As for the affordable component we already know that it’s not affordable to the overwhelming majority of existing residents but to make matters even worse, developers have the option to offer the “affordable” portion of units up to 130% of the inflated Area Median Income (AMI) which will most certainly push them out of the realm for pretty much everyone in the South Bronx.
Welcome to Gentrification, folks!
