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Thursday, October 5, 2017

Park House Opens in the Bronx

Yesterday, Breaking Ground and project partners gathered to celebrate the opening of Park House, our first ground-up, all-affordable residence for families with children. Park House represents Breaking Ground’s expansion into standalone affordable housing and homelessness prevention.

For decades, Breaking Ground has been serving individuals living on the streets by providing high-quality housing with on-site supports to help people come indoors where they can build and restore their lives - that work continues today. But confronted with New York City’s affordable housing crisis, we knew we had to do more. In recent years, we were alarmed at the number of families falling into homelessness and we carefully considered options for helping to help prevent homelessness. Right at the top of the list was expanding affordable housing resources for low- and very low-income families. Park House is only the beginning, one of many sites in our development pipeline across New York City, with much more housing to come for families at risk of homelessness.

Located at 4275 Park Avenue, Park House delivers 248 units of affordable housing to the Tremont neighborhood of the Bronx with more than half of the apartments featuring two- or three-bedrooms. Designed by the renowned COOKFOX Architects, Park House echoes the neighborhood’s beautiful masonry apartment buildings and helps instill a sense of pride and dignity for residents who for years were without secure, stable housing.

Park House is just one of many sites in Breaking Ground’s development pipeline across the city, with much more housing to come for families. We have nearly 1,500 more supportive and affordable apartments planned – homes that will enable lives of dignity and security.
Brenda E. Rosen, President and CEO

Amenities at Park House include a community space, bicycle storage, onsite laundry for residents, and a landscaped courtyard. Park House is equipped with high performance boilers, energy efficient lighting fixtures and controls, water-saving fixtures and fittings, EnergyStar appliances, and extensive green roof areas with drought resistant plantings.

In celebrating the opening, we were joined by key partners in the development of Park House. Richard Froehlich, Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the New York City Housing Development Corporation said, “today we hear it: the Bronx is building. We’ve been building the Bronx and we’ve been investing in the Bronx, and with partners like Breaking Ground…Park House is a beautiful addition to the Bronx.”

Samuel Roberts, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and the Homeless Housing and Assistance Program, presented Breaking Ground’s President and CEO, Brenda Rosen, with a plaque commemorating the opening of Park House, noting that “20 units will be for formerly homeless people, and that’s part of what the Governor is doing across the state, providing units with supportive services for people who have experienced homelessness. On behalf of the Governor, and the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, we congratulate you on this new project and look forward to working with you in the future.”

“JPMorgan chase is a proud and key partner for this affordable housing development that is going to support individuals and families in the Bronx. We are excited about the work of Breaking Ground because of its mission to provide both supportive and affordable housing to all New Yorkers,” said Michael G. Johnson, Vice President of Global Philanthropy at JP Morgan Chase & Co. The JPMorgan Chase Foundation provided a generous philanthropic grant to Park House, allowing for an extensive green roof system that increases the sustainability of the building.

Daniel Randall, Senior Business Development Officer, Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, said “in a time when affordable housing is scarce, it’s great to see that quality affordable housing units are being created. On behalf of the Federal Home Loan Bank, we congratulate Breaking Ground on accomplishing your mission.”

Also joining us were representatives from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development; from the New York State Office of Mental Health; and from Wells Fargo, N.A.

The opening received coverage in the Architect’s NewspaperCurbed NY, and Politico (paywall).

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