Procida Companies is in the process of developing a two-building, 206-unit mixed-use project to Unionport.
The 2047 Newbold Avenue project, called the Westchester Muse, will feature a 10-story building on Newbold Avenue and an 11-story building facing Westchester Avenue.
According to Peter Procida, an associate of the company and the son of CEO Mario Procida, they purchased the parcel in 2015.
Once completed, the Westchester Avenue building will neighbor a 134-unit affordable housing building already constructed at 2040 Westchester Avenue.
The 10-story building will have 124 residential units above 1,350 square feet of community facility space.
Procida said the firm envisions the space possibly being used as a small doctor’s office or an afterschool tutoring program.
The taller building will have 82 residential units above 7,413 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.
According to Procida, the company is marketing that space as a grocery store.
“We wanted to build something that serves the community well,” said Procida.
Exactly half of the project’s residential units, 103, will be affordable housing.
“I think affordable housing is of the utmost importance,” said Procida. “You sort of see in some of the other boroughs concerns over gentrification and that’s becoming more and more of a hot button issue here in the Bronx.”
“To have permanently affordable units at the different levels of the area’s median income is a good way to preserve affordable housing for families and individuals in the Bronx,” he added.
The project is being built under the city’s new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program which provides additional floor bonuses in return for the developer’s willingness to include affordable housing units to the building.
William Rivera, district manager for Community Board 9, said the community board was very much in favor of the new affordable housing.
According to Rivera, the board voted 19-6 on Thursday, January 19, to support the development.
Procida Companies had to go before the community board as part of the Uniform Land Review Process to rezone the lot from an R5 – the area’s current zoning – to an R6.
Now that CB9 has given its approval, the project is in Borough President Ruben Diaz’s office.
The borough president has 30 days to make his decision.
From there it will have to be approved by City Planning and the City Council.
Most of the properties on Newbold between Olmstead and Pugsley avenues are modest 2-story homes.
When asked about the presence of a much taller building in the area, Procida pointed out parts of the block had already been rezoned.
The stretch of Newbold already includes a four-story apartment building on the corner of Pugsley Avenue and Newbold Avenue and a six-story apartment building facing Olmstead Avenue.
Procida expects a June start date and expects the project to take about two years to complete.
