Bronx, NY – The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) joined Omni New York and others today to celebrate the completion of Park Avenue Green, a new 154-unit affordable passive house development in the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx.
“Through the Mayor’s ambitious housing plan, we’re building for the city of tomorrow, harnessing cutting-edge Passive House standards to ensure homes aren’t just affordable but sustainable far into the future. Park Avenue Green brings 154 beautiful new beautiful homes that are affordable to low and extremely low-income households, including formerly homeless families,” said HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer. “I want to congratulate HDC, Omni, and all our partners on a job well done, and wish a warm welcome home to the new residents at Park Avenue Green.”
“I am proud to celebrate the completion of Park Avenue Green, a Passive House development that truly embodies the spirit of the Mayor’s plan to create a more equitable and sustainable city,” said HDC President Eric Enderlin. “Congratulations to Omni and all our project partners for bringing 154 new affordable homes to the Melrose community so that New Yorkers at a range of incomes, including 46 formerly homeless households, will have greater security and opportunity for years to come.”
“Lack of access to affordable housing continues to be a challenge in the Bronx. This important project will make available more than a hundred affordable housing units to low-income and homeless families in the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx. I applaud Mayor de Blasio for his continued effort to expand access to affordable housing in the Bronx and the rest of New York City,” said Congressman Serrano.
Park Avenue Green includes a mix of studios, one, two and three bedroom units with rents affordable to very low and low income households. In addition, there are 46 units reserved for formerly homeless households - half of which are permanently affordable.
The mixed-income development located at 2980 Park Avenue is the second and final phase of Omni New York’s Morris Avenue affordable housing development. The first phase of development is located on an adjacent tax lot at 655 Morris Avenue and completed construction in 2016, offering 175 low and moderate income affordable homes including housing for formerly homeless veterans.
“We want to thank the teams at HDC and HPD for their ongoing support of this project. It is their hard work and dedication which makes it possible to provide much needed affordable housing to the residents of New York City,” said Eugene Schneur, Managing Director of Omni New York LLC.
Maurice Coleman, Senior Client Manager for Community Development Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said, "We're very pleased to have provided $58.6 million in debt financing and tax credit equity investment to Omni New York for the construction of its 154 unit affordable and supportive housing development in the Bronx, NY. Bank of America has made a 10-year, $1.5 trillion commitment to community development lending. This project is yet another example of our involvement in helping to create affordable housing while revitalizing neighborhoods."
Park Avenue Green was designed, using sustainable materials throughout, to Passive House standards incorporating, among other things, an Energy Recovery Ventilation System, a Variable Refrigerant Flow HVAC System, solar panels and a Co-gensystem to efficiently generate heat and electricity on-site. Additionally, all units include water saving energy efficient appliances and light fixtures which will result in significant savings in operating costs. The building also includes an approximately 4,600 square foot community facility space which has been leased to Spaceworks NYC, Inc., serving the needs of local artists. The facility contains 15 solo practice art studios, a community project space and an exhibition space. Park Avenue Green also includes recycling and bicycle rooms and a state of the art security camera system.
The project was financed through more than $67.73 million in public and private investment utilizing HDC and HPD’s Extremely Low and Low-Income Affordability Program (ELLA) and HPD’s OurSpace Initiative. HDC provided $29.61 million in tax-exempt bonds and $10.01 million in corporate reserves. HPD provided approximately $19.5 million in City subsidy. The project benefits from low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) resulting in a total of $28.57 million in tax credit equity. Bank of America was the tax-credit investor and provided the letter of credit. Alliant Capital served as tax credit syndicator.
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