MOTT HAVEN — The city plans to build a 241-unit affordable housing complex with a supermarket and a charter school in the place of an historic school building that was recently torn down.
The city has selected Trinity Financial and MBD Community Housing Corporation to redevelop the former site of P.S. 31 into an energy-efficient housing development as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's Housing New York initiative, which aims to build or preserve 200,000 units of affordable housing in the city over 10 years.
P.S. 31 at 425 Grand Concourse, known as the "Castle on the Concourse," was attended by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and its demolition was met with much resistance from the community.
The plan for the new 24-story building promises a charter school, a social services facility, a supermarket, a medical facility, and cultural and community spaces in the first three stories, and all-affordable units above that.
Each floor of the building would contain a laundry room and a community room with access to the 23rd floor's landscaped roof terrace.
In addition, the complex would consume 30 percent of energy a typical housing development would, according to officials.
"We welcome this proposal as a wonderful addition to our growing affordable housing portfolio," de Blasio said in a statement. "And a model for all housing development in New York’s future.”
The Land Use Review Procedure for the project is expected to start in 2017, and the apartments are proposed for households making between 60 and 100 percent of Area Median Income, according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
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Architectural features of the former school, such as its terra cotta gargoyles and engraved P.S. 31 sign, would be incorporated into the design of the new building, and plans for the project also include rezoning the block to allow for greater density, according to the city.
The development site is roughly 30,000 square feet and bordered by Grand Concourse, East 144th Street, Walton Avenue and Garrison Playground, which is currently closed and in need of renovations, officials said.
The city is working to rehabilitate and reopen the playground, and a walkway between it and the new building would connect the playground with Grand Concourse and Walton Avenue.
Diaz said in a statement that, while he was sorry to see his old school fall into disrepair and disappear, he was grateful that officials planned to replace it with an environmentally friendly building that would bring commercial activity and affordable housing to the area.
"This project will be a great fit for the neighborhood and the borough as a whole," he said.
