Somerset Partners and Chetrit Group’s waterfront towers planned for Port Morris
Welcome2TheBronx joined WNYC on a discussion about gentrification in The South Bronx centering in on Mott Haven and the surrounding areas for this long-term project on the housing affordability crisis.
(If you live or work in the South Bronx, WNYC wants to hear from you and journalist Sophia Paliza-Carre will be stationed at the Mott Haven Library on E 140th Street and Alexander Avenue a few hours each day. Reach out via email to: spalizacarre@wnyc.org or via social media using the hashtag #motthavenspeaks)
Listen to the segment on WNYC by Jessica Gould and Sophia Paliza-Carre:
Some concrete signs of gentrification creeping in are:
1. Developers are staking a claim
Somerset Partners and the Chetrit Group havebought up old warehouses along an industrial stretch of the Harlem River waterfront, just like developers did in Dumbo and Williamsburg years ago.
2. Artists and millennials are moving in
Galleries are sprouting up along the waterfront, and the new coffee shop is a hub for recent college grads who’ve been priced out of other boroughs.
3. Housing costs are spiking
NYU’s Furman Center recently listed Mott Haven among the city’s top gentrifying neighborhoods, with rents up 28 percent since the ’90s.
4. Community leaders are mobilizing
Developer Rubenstein and his partners got flak for trying to rebrand the neighborhood The Piano District, after the old piano factories that used to be there.
With 992 units planned, a 50,000 square foot YMCA, 10,000 square foot television studio for BronxNet, and also an astronomy lab and observation deck among many other features, La Central is one of the biggest mixed residential and commercial developments coming to The Bronx.
A 50,000 square foot YMCA will occupy building A along Westchester Avenue and Bergen.
It’s also one of the first that will include the controversial Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) which mandates that a number of units must be set aside as permanently affordable.
The number of units under MIH depends on which option the developer, in this case Hudson Inc, chooses.
The five building development will range from 12 stories to 25 stories with green rooftops fitted with 600,000 watts of solar power that promises a reduction by 50% on energy and reliance on the local grid according to Hudson Inc.
The 992 units will be a mix of studios, one, two, three, and four bedroom apartments with approximately 160 units set aside for older adults living with HIV/AIDS and veterans with mental illness while providing on site support via CommunLife.
While this affordable housing development seems great on paper, we already know that those who truly need deep affordability—the residents who live in the immediate area of Community Board 1, will not qualify for these apartments even though 50% of these units will be set aside with a preference for those residents.
With such a massive development, La Central also fails at providing opportunities for home ownership as was done at neighboring Via Verde which is a mix of cooperative apartments and rental units.
By not providing homeownership opportunities at La Central, the development misses a great opportunity to provide stability by way of ownership to the community.
Home ownership by way of affordable houses, coops and condos have already demonstrated market acceptance by local qualifying residents.
Without homeownership, the community has very little defense against encroaching gentrification.
No official date has been set for groundbreaking, but once it commences, this will be the fourth major development under construction in Melrose with almost 2,000 units spread throughout these projects.
So this happened overnight…a 1 Train was graffiti bombed all in the name of Trump and not against but what seems to be FOR the disgusting, misogynistic, racist candidate.
This isn’t the first time a train has been tagged up in recent years as evidenced by the title of this post.
So this happened overnight…a 1 Train was graffiti bombed all in the name of Trump and not against but what seems to be FOR the disgusting, misogynistic, racist candidate.
This isn’t the first time a train has been tagged up in recent years as evidenced by the title of this post.
The late Mother Teresa and the late Princess Diana of Wales in Mott Haven, The Bronx in 1997 just 6 weeks before both passed away / Image Credit unknown after an exhaustive search. Copyright infringement unintended.
Today, 19 years after her death, Pope Francis officially declared the Albanian Mother Teresa a saint as many remember when she visited The Bronx.
On one of those occasions, Saint Teresa of Kolkata, as she is now known, was visited by her friend, Princess Diana of Wales who flew in from DC just to meet up with her at the Missionaries of Charity’s order on 145th Street in Mott Haven—the first in North America of the order which she founded in 1950.
Little would anyone guess that 6 weeks later, both friends would pass away just days apart from each other.
Saint Teresa isn’t without controversy, many have criticized her rapid ascension into the pantheon of Roman Catholic saints, a process which usually would take well over a century after someone’s passing.
Calcutta in India, as Kolkata was once known, became somewhat of a stereotype much like The Bronx thanks in part to the media narrative focusing solely on both’s poverty.
In a recent article by NBC News, they write:
A 1994 study by the UK-based The Lancet medical journal reported that even the most basic, life-saving drugs were not administered to salvageable patients who should have been admitted to a hospital rather than Mother Teresa’s famous home for the dying.
For a 2003 study, researchers at the University of Montreal and University of Ottawa examined nearly 300 documents belonging to the elderly nun.
The report noted “her rather dubious way of caring for the sick, questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce.”
But Hitchens’ concerns and those of others will no doubt be drowned out by the joy of hundreds of thousands who are expected to attend Sunday’s Mass to pay tribute to her.
Even with such controversies, one can’t discount that her presence brought much needed attention to the plight of the poor not just in her adopted country of India, but across the globe and right in our backyard in The Bronx.
Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa, walking around Morrisania in The Bronx
My own mother met Mother Teresa on two of the saint’s visit to The Bronx and on one of those occasions, she received a rosary given to her by Mother Teresa.
For many, especially our Albanian residents, today is a day of celebration regardless of how Mother Teresa, the once named Living Saint, is viewed.
Indoor sky-lit swimming pool (all renderings via STUDIOSC)
A year ago, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr said that there was no gentrification taking place but either he was flat out clueless or lying—we’ll let you decide for yourselves.
The new building will add 190 units to the existing 90 already at the landmarked Clocktower, a new fitness center, a game room, lounge, sports court, and an indoor sky-lit swimming pool.
According to plans and specs, most of the units will be facing E 134th street aka The Major Deegan Expressway and directly across from NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses on the other side of the expressway.
Outdoor area and swimming pool
Talk about a tale of two cities within a neighborhood.
Port Morris is separated from Mott Haven by the expressway and bridges leading into Manhattan and Queens creating a barrier between it and the rest of the borough.
Many pro-gentrification folks argue that there’s no displacement so no gentrification is taking place because “no one lives there” which is incorrect as thousands of people live in Port Morris.
What most pro-gentrification individuals don’t understand is the ripple affect that happens as such developments rise in a few neighborhood. Existing residents even in rent-stabilized apartments will feel pressure from their landlords to move, often times with the landlords paying tenants several thousand dollars to leave.
Lobby
There’s also the commercial aspect with developers snatching up retail storefronts to lease to their own favored businesses to create a neighborhood to their liking, something which Keith Rubenstein has already done with Filtered Coffee, Pizzoteca, 9J Designs, and a gallery on Third Avenue next to Filtered.
This is a signal to other landlords that they can raise rents out of reach of existing businesses because someone is artificially raising them by speculative purchases and leasing.
Lobby
There’s absolutely no doubt that mixed-income neighborhoods are a good thing in theory but sadly we haven’t seen it work successfully yet because of the forces of gentrification.
So as the Clocktower’s extension gets closer to completion as the South Bronx’s first ultra luxury market rate rental, this is only the beginning of Ruben Diaz Jr’s “New Bronx” which isn’t for existing residents who deserve better but for an entirely different economic demographic who won’t mind living on the “other side of the tracks” separate from our borough and all that ails us.
Typical unit finishings
How do we reconcile that luxury is being built in the poorest congressional district in the United States when hundreds of thousands are barely making ends meet and paying over 55% of their incomes towards rent, one of the highest in the nation?
How do we reconcile this gross example of inequality being constructed for outsiders, because let’s face it, the majority of residents in these developments will be from outside our borough, when Mayor de Blasio continues to push affordable housing that’s not affordable for the residents in the communities they are built in?
Centenarians aren’t strangers to The Bronx (like this 100 year old runner)but this Bronx woman celebrating her 101st birthday with her 100-year-old husband sure is a pretty unique story.
News12 The Bronx reports that Theresa Pearson, who was born in Georgia along with her husband of 73 years, Doc, celebrated her big day at a Riverdale nursing home.
According to News12: “When asked what their secret was to staying together so long, Doc replied, “It’s not a secret, I think I would say it was more of luck than anything. I am just lucky.”
According to documents released, if the zoning is passed, it will lead to the potential creation of 3,250 units and adding approximately 10,000 more residents in an already dense area where basic services such as the subway system along the 4 line are strained and packed to capacity.
Thousands of residents have come out against the proposed zoning changes yet somehow City Planning states that “For more than a decade, residents and community stakeholders of the Southwest Bronx requested the City study the land use and zoning along the Jerome Avenue Corridor”.
City Planning also admits that the plan would displace under 500 residents but that “The Proposed Actions would not exceed the threshold of 500 displaced residents, and therefore, are not expected to result in significant adverse impacts due to direct residential displacement”
With regards to businesses being displaced, City Planning forsees over 100 employees displaced, most of which are the many autoshop workers along Jerome Avenue.
Although DCP will analyze the impact of displaced employees in the area, is it really work displacing hundreds of residents and employees in an area? We already know that once zoning changes are implemented, it will only be a matter of time before developers purchase these autoshops and begins construction on “affordable” residential buildings.
The evening will be filled with the presentation of the first ever Willi Ninja Award, video and film montage celebrating his life, a performance by the Legendary House of Ninja, a runway show and more.
The event is part of The Bronx Museum’s First Fridays series in conjunction with the current exhibition that explores HIV/AIDS through the lense of art.
Admission is free and the event runs from 6PM-10PM and the Bronx Museum is located at 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, easily accessible by the B/D trains to 167th Street or the 4 train to 161st and Yankee stadium or 167th and Jerome Avenue
Renderings South Bronx Luxury Towers by Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners and The Chetrit Group. / Image via CityRealty
The South Bronx skyline is set to forever change as development shifts gears towards the Harlem River Waterfront thanks to gentrifying developer, Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners and The Chetrit Group and their poor attempt at rebranding the neighborhood as the “Piano District”
Renderings South Bronx Luxury Towers by Keith Rubenstein of Somerset Partners and The Chetrit Group. / Image via CityRealty
The first three will include two 20 story towers and a third 25 story tower and all three will share a common base.
Not sure who’s going to want to pay $3,500 in rent on a development that sits practically on top of a rail line that moves garbage out and not to mention the horrendous smell that permeates the area.
Oh, and did we mention that this is a flood zone and was flooded during Superstorm Sandy? Garbage and flooding make for a toxic brew during another major storm.
Although the development will be surrounded by New York City Housing Authority (aka the projects) developments in The Bronx and across the river in East Harlem, these developments will continue to further trigger more and more visible cues of the gentrification of the South Bronx.
What will become of our neighborhoods, our mom and pop shops? We’ve seen how this has played out throughout NYC but we don’t have to sit and take it. We can and must do better where other neighborhoods failed to stop gentrification.
As if we don’t have enough to deal with outside money pouring into our borough via developers bent on gentrifying The Bronx and creating their version of our home for wealthier prospective residents, now we have to deal with Upper East Side millionaires pouring monies into local elections to benefit their needs.
As the Village Voice reports, these donors and millionaires do not represent our borough’s constituents.
Peter Grauer, who donated $75,000 to the PAC, is chairman of Bloomberg LP and currently serves on the board of the Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity real estate firm. Blackstone has attracted criticism for its actions after the foreclosure crisis, which disproportionately hurtblack and Latino communities. Last year, Grauer made news for being one of only three UNC trustees who voted to keep a university hall named after a notorious KKK leader.
Sean Fieler, who donated $75,000 to the PAC, is a hedge fund manager and one of Wall Street’s top political donors. Fieler has also funded scores ofanti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion-rights causes. Last year, Fieler gave $200,000, more than any other donor, to defeat California’s transgender-students’-rights law.
Walton donated $450,00 to the PAC. Walmart has been a strong opponent of the Fight for $15 and attempts to unionize the retail sector.
Clearly these are not in the best interests of the average Bronxite.
It’s bad enough that these same groups control our housing and community assets, now they want to control our corrupt political structure too and that’s simply unacceptable.
