Developed by Phipps Houses and Jonathan Rose Companies, in collaboration with Dattner Architects and Grimshaw, Via Verde represents a new affordable housing model for transit-based, green and healthy urban living. Founded on successful public-private partnerships and a commitment to sustainable design, Via Verde will provide a range of affordable housing opportunities in the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx. Via Verde is being developed under Mayor Michael Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan to create and preserve 165,000 units of affordable housing by 2014.
Via Verde's stepped form integrates nature and city, featuring a dynamic garden as the organizing architectural element and symbolic center for the Via Verde community. The connected green rooftops of low-rise townhomes, a mid-rise duplex building, and a 20-story residential tower will be used to harvest rainwater, grow fruits and vegetables, and provide open space for residents to enjoy.
The 222-unit development is designed to exceed U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Gold and NYSERDA's Multifamily Performance Program and Enterprise Green Community standards for environmentally responsible and energy-efficient design.
The city is on track to reach the goal set forth in its New Housing Marketplace Plan. The groundbreaking of Via Verde marked a milestone within that campaign. The city has financed the preservation or construction of more than 100,000 affordable homes since 2003.
The city marked the milestone with groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings on new affordable housing developments in each of the five boroughs. The Mayor made the announcement at the groundbreaking for Via Verde (Green Way), a mixed-income rental and home ownership development in the Bronxchester neighborhood. The Mayor was joined by congressman Jose Serrano, borough president Ruben Diaz, Jr., state senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., NYC Housing Development Corporation president Marc Jahr, City Planning Commission chair Amanda Burden and the project developers, Jonathan Rose Companies president Jonathan Rose and Phipps Houses president and CEO Adam Weinstein.
"By achieving 100,000 affordable housing units, we are helping 100,000 New York City families live in - and contribute to - the greatest city in the world," said Mayor Bloomberg. "We view providing affordable housing opportunities to New Yorkers with diverse incomes and needs as fundamental to our city's long-term economic prosperity, and we have no intention of slowing down now. Since the start of the national recession, we have financed more affordable units - nearly 17,000 - than any other U.S. city or state. Our administration is on track to build and preserve affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by 2014, and we are as committed as ever to getting it done."
The $99 million Via Verde development will supply 150 units of low-income rental housing and 72 affordable co-op units with retail, community and outdoor recreational space. At the heart of the project are a series of gardens that begin in the courtyard then spiral up through a series of green roofs. The project will be built on a vacant 1.5-acre site at East 156th St. and Brook Ave. The development will create more than 900 construction-related jobs.
The complex includes three distinct building types: a 20-story tower at the north end of the site, 6-12-story mid-rise buildings in the middle, and 3-4-story townhouses to the South. Rental units will be located in the tower and mid-rise buildings.
The Via Verde design and development team were the winners of the international New Housing New York (NHNY) Legacy Project competition, a collaboration among the NHNY Steering Committee, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY). The competition was cosponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Enterprise Community Partners, Inc., Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to encourage the integration of sustainability and design excellence with affordable housing. Tags: