Building affordable housing is a challenge everywhere in New York City, and adding sustainability components can be even more challenging when considering the scarcity of land, rising construction costs, and green standards that must be met.
Breaking Ground has never backed down from a challenge, and we put our values into action today when we celebrated the groundbreaking at our Betances residence in the South Bronx - our first Passive House building, and one of just a few supportive residences in the City to embrace such a rigorous energy use standard. The Betances development is part of a commitment by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to identify underutilized land for new affordable homes.
The 152 apartments at Betances will serve formerly homeless and low-income senior households, including one superintendent unit. Crucially, 26 of the units will have a preference for current residents of NYCHA apartments, allowing senior residents to continue to age-in-place while freeing up much-needed NYCHA apartments for other households. The 120,000 square foot development will feature a 24-hour attended lobby, state of the art security systems, a laundry room, digital library and computer lab, multipurpose room for events and programming, and landscaped courtyard and terrace spaces. The building will also feature 4,700 square feet of community facility space to be occupied by the DreamYard Project, a Bronx-based nonprofit that creates arts and education opportunities for underserved youth.
