New look at Bronx’s La Central affordable housing complex as it nears phase two

Later this month, construction will get underway on the second phase of the massive five-building affordable housing project in the Bronx, La Central. The news is accompanied by a new rendering of the overall development, which was designed by FXFOWLE, in collaboration with MHG Architects and Future Green Studio.

Work on the first phase began last summer; the first phase includes a 161-unit supportive housing building that’s being developed by Breaking Ground and Comunilife.

The second phase will comprise of two buildings; together these buildings will have 496 apartments, a 50,000-square-foot YMCA, a new studio for BronxNet TV, retail all along the project’s Westchester Avenue boundary, and a rooftop garden created by GrowNYC. Solar panels on the rooftop will generate more than 250,000 watts of power.

The development group working on La Central, which is comprised of Hudson Cos., BRP Companies, ELH-TKC LLC, Breaking Ground and Comunilife, recently closed on a $335 million construction loan to move forward with work on these two new buildings that will be located at 556 and 600 Bergen Avenue.

Work on this second phase of the development is expected to be complete by 2020. Meanwhile, work on the final two buildings that make up this project will likely commence in the next 18 to 24 months.

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