New affordable housing in the Bronx is designed for both seniors and teens

Home Street Residences, a 75,000-sf low-income housing development, was conceived primarily for seniors, but also includes a community space with a teen support and video gaming center.

Designed by Body Lawson Associates and located on Freeman Square in the Foxhurst section of the Bronx, the building comprises 63 affordable apartments averaging 550 sf each. The units feature high-quality finishes and fixtures and extra insulation to lower heating and cooling costs. On the exterior, gray brick cladding echoes the schist from the dilapidated church that once stood on the site, and the recessed window openings produce a sculptural quality in the geometric shadows often gracing the facade.

Home Street Residence Facade

Customized common areas feature site-salvaged wood furnishings while hallways, common areas, and apartments use browns and grays to complement the exterior palette. The ground floor uses a tessellated and color-variegated stone pattern, contrasting the interior courtyard’s gray herringbone tiles.

Formerly homeless seniors are allotted 30% of the building units, with the remaining apartments set aside for diverse low-income senior individuals and families. Residents have access to roof patios and a quiet rear courtyard. A mail room and a small gym room are also included.

Home Street Residences Patio

“The completion of 1017 Home Street provides seniors with affordable, sustainable, healthy housing in a beautiful new building with onsite services,” says Justin Stein, Senior Vice President with Bronx Pro Group, the building manager and operator, in a release. “It also provides the community with a new and vibrant community facility in which nonprofit DreamYard operates BX Start, where the power of video games and digital media are used to catalyze economic opportunity, community building, and pathways to equity for youth.”

Daniel Boone Playground, Crotona Park, Concrete Plant Park, a post office, multiple eateries, groceries, mass transit, and public schools are all within walking distance.

One of the hardest decisions multifamily developers and their design teams have to make is what mix of amenities they’re going to put into each project. A lot of squiggly factors go into that decision: the type of community, the geographic market, local recreation preferences, climate/weather conditions, physical parameters, and of course the budget. The permutations are mind-boggling.

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