Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the opening of Tres Puentes Senior Apartments, a $117.7 million affordable senior housing development in the South Bronx.
The development includes 175 apartments for seniors and individuals with special needs and 10,000 s/f of health-orientated commercial and community space, and expands the existing Borinquen Court Senior Center that provides services for residents and neighborhood seniors.
“The completion of Tres Puentes Senior Apartments is another important step in our ongoing initiative to build more affordable apartments and a stronger Bronx community,” Governor Cuomo said.
“By creating this mixed-use development we are not only increasing access to safe, affordable homes and services for some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers, we are stimulating economic growth and continuing the revitalization happening in the Bronx.”
State financing for the project includes $25.6 million in permanent tax-exempt bonds, federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that generated $49.6 million in equity, $6.1 million in Medicaid Redesign Team funds and an additional $1.5 million from the Community Investment Fund from New York State Homes and Community Renewal.
The development received New York State brownfield tax credits that generated over $5.8 million in equity. NYSERDA provided $202,200.
The New York State Office of Mental Health will provide approximately $900,000 annually for the onsite supportive services through a combination of Governor Cuomo’s Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative and agency funds.
Additional financing included $13 million from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartments Program and $600,000 from the NYC Office of Environmental Remediation.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and the New York City Council provided $3 million.
Located at 285 East 138th Street and 2550 3rd Avenue in Mott Haven, the Tres Puentes complex includes a newly constructed 11-story building with 119 apartments and an eight-story building with 56 apartments.
There are 45 studio apartments and 130 one-bedroom apartments. All apartments will be available to households with incomes at or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income.
Fifty-three of the apartments are reserved for households in which at least one member lives with serious mental illness.
The project’s developer, West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, will provide support services for these apartments.
Tres Puentes Senior Apartments has a community room, a laundry room on each floor and an outdoor landscaped area. All the buildings in the complex are connected by a covered walkway.
The development also has 10,000 s/f of retail and community facility space.
The two new buildings flank the existing Borinquen Court Apartments, a 145-unit affordable senior housing development originally constructed as a HUD Section 202 property and now owned by the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc.
The Borinquen Court Apartments property was subdivided to allow for the construction of Tres Puentes Senior Apartments.
