Categories: New York City, Member News, Groundbreakings
03.18.2019
Hebrew Home’s new Arthur Avenue Apartments will offer 54 units of supportive housing and connection back to nature.
About 100 people gathered on March 1st under a heated tent in the Bronx to celebrate Hebrew Home at Riverdale’s groundbreaking of Arthur Avenue Apartments, the result of its second collaboration with Foxy Management. The building promises 54 supportive housing units reserved for formerly homeless or chronically medically ill residents out of a total of 176 affordable housing units dedicated to low-income older adults.
Shelly Fox, president and CEO of Foxy Management, and Jeff Fox, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Foxy Management, welcomed attendees and introduced the special guests to the event — including Jeff Fox’s one-year-old son. This was especially symbolic given that the Fox family’s presence in the Bronx had begun four generations earlier with Shelly Fox’s father settling first in the borough, where Foxy Management is based.
Daniel Reingold, President and CEO of Hebrew Home at Riverdale, gave remarks that looked ahead to the needs of the future: “As you look at the new class of older adults — more of a baby boomer population — the nursing home model is not the model that's going to carry us forward. Affordable housing with services is absolutely one of the most effective programs to do this."
Leora Jontef, Vice President of Multifamily Finance at New York State Homes and Community Renewal, and Brendan McBride, Associate Commissioner of New Construction for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), each spoke about the state and city’s respective intentions to meet New Yorkers’ needs for affordable and supportive housing.
District 17 Council Member Rafael Salamanca was also present at the groundbreaking to elaborate on how Arthur Avenue represented another big step in his commitment to senior and supportive housing in the district. Salamanca pointed toward the larger-than-life check standing on an easel as a physical representation of his contribution of $500,000 out of his discretionary capital funding to the development.
The lot will be transformed into a nine-story, energy-efficient apartment building housing various nature-oriented community activities and services for residents, organized by Hebrew Home. The building will also feature an indoor green wall in a double-height lobby, green roof, greenhouse, two working vegetable gardens and a “teaching” kitchen where nutrition will take center stage.
Dave Walsh, Northeast Regional Manager at J.P. Morgan Chase Community Bank and a Board Member for the Supportive Housing Network, heartily congratulated all the partners involved in making this housing development possible given the particularly complex nature of the bond transaction and financing supporting the development.
Public financing partners include New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA) and New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Services and operations for the 54 supportive apartments will be provided by the NYS Department of Health through the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative. Private financing partners includes J.P. Morgan Chase, Boston Financial Investment Management, Freddie Mac and Low Income Investment Fund (LIIC). The design and construction team comprised SLCE Architects, LLP, Lendlease Construction LMB Inc., Mottola Rini Engineers P.C., Denardis Engineering, NV5, William Vitacco Associates, Macro Consultants and Rooted Spaces.
The showstopper of the groundbreaking was arguably already fully baked: a beautiful construction by a former bakery owner who served her own piece of edible architecture highlighting Arthur Avenue Apartments’ focus on fresh greens and gardens.
News 12 in the Bronx reported live from the Arthur Avenue groundbreaking here and embedded below.