Melrose undergoing quiet transformation

Real Estate Weekly, Nov 6, 2002 by Magnus Magnusson, Peter Stand

The Melrose section of the South Bronx, one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City, has been quietly undergoing a transformation for the past decade. It's a case study of how much can be achieved when community advocacy groups, a committed design and planning team and the city join forces.

In the early 1990s, the grassroots organization Nos Quedamos/We Stay made a commitment to help guide the future development of the South Bronx. The group brought us in to provide design and planning services for a proposed urban renewal area -- a plan approved by the City of New York in 1994.

The 35-block revitalization zone, known as Melrose Commons, illustrated the need and capacity for approximately 1,700 units of new housing, 250,000 SF of commercial and community facility space, and four acres of open space.

Today we are the primary architectural and planning firm for Melrose Commons. Since 1993, we have provided our services to Nos Quedamos on a partially pro-bono basis and also through grants from such organizations as the New York State Council on the Arts, the Astor Foundation, the Environmental Simulation Center, and Neighborhood Housing Services.

The first completed development in Melrose Commons, called Plaza de Los Angeles, comprises 35 three-family, for-sale townhouses that we designed. Currently, all the homes have been sold and are occupied, bringing approximately 525 new residents to the area.

Other projects that we have designed there include:

* La Puerta de Vitalidad, the first new rental facility in the neighborhood, which consists of 60 one-to-three bedroom apartments and two ground floor commercial spaces. The recently completed building will house approximately 300 residents.

* La Casa De Felicidad, an 85-unit affordable senior housing facility scheduled to start construction in spring 2003. The project is currently under review by the New York City Buildings Department and is completing the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), and

* Palacio del Sol, a 124-unit apartment building with 15,000 SF of ground floor commercial space, scheduled to begin construction in fall of 2003.

In addition to the housing we designed here, we also provided an illustrated and photographic survey of all the existing buildings in the Melrose Commons area, which was used by Nos Quedamos to compile a report identifying buildings and landlords/owners who could benefit from receiving low interest loans for property rehabilitation.

We've also provided consulting services to Nos Quedamos for the rehabilitation of Melrose Park at Courtlandt Avenue and East 161st Street, for the expansion of the Melrose MetroNorth Station at East 162nd Street, and for the reconfiguring of roadways at l6lst Street between Elton and Washington Avenues and Melrose Avenue from 149th Street to 163rd Street.

Melrose Commons is well on its way to becoming a more welcoming place to work and live. The coming years will undoubtedly bring more changes to this area, and we look forward to being a part of the continued revitalization.