MELROSE — Bronxites earning as little as roughly $4,000 a year can find a home at a new affordable housing project coming to the borough that includes a 300-seat music hall.
Officials broke ground Friday on the Bronx Commons, a massive $165 million project that includes 305 units of affordable housing, a concert venue called the Bronx Music Hall, a public plaza and places to shop and eat.
The development, located in Melrose Commons by Brook Avenue and East 163rd Street, will be a total of 426,000 square feet, and the 14,000 square foot Bronx Music Hall will include a performance space, a permanent exhibit on the history and influences of Bronx music, classroom and rehearsal space, gallery space for temporary or traveling exhibitions and an outdoor plaza for performances and recreation.
The music hall is meant to give residents and visitors a chance to see shows, learn more about the storied history of music in The Bronx and make some music and art of their own.
Bronx Commons is being developed by WHEDco and BFC Partners, and it will house families with incomes ranging from 30 percent to 110 percent of area median income, including New Yorkers who are leaving the city's homeless shelter system.
► READ MORE: INTERACTIVE: What is AMI?
The annual household income range for tenants should span from about $4,000 to $115,600, and apartments will be broken down as follows:
► 5 percent will be for people leaving the city's shelter system
► 10 percent will be for households making 30 percent of AMI
► 20 percent will be for households making 50 percent of AMI
► 25 percent will be for households making 60 percent of AMI
► 40 percent will be for households making between 80 and 110 percent of AMI
The building is expected to be finished by 2019.
