A proposed rezoning that would bring a 10-story high, 333-unit development to the site of the Fine Fare Supermarkets on Boston Road in Allerton is under the consideration of Community Board 11.
The board is holding a hearing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night on Webex, and will likely vote on the proposal at its full board meeting Thursday night, which will also be held remotely. The board’s opinion on the proposal is advisory, and the request will then cross the desk of Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, whose recommendation is also advisory, before being voted on by the City Council and considered by Mayor Eric Adams, who, along with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, has championed building affordable housing.
The 2560 Boston Road development, proposed by Slate Property Group, would be financed through the NYC Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Mix and Match program, and Community District 11 residents will be given preference for half of the units.
With the Mix and Match program, 40% to 60% of units are reserved for households that earn up to 80% of the area median income (AMI) while the other 40% to 60% of units have rents earmarked for households earning up to 120% of the area median income, according to the HPD website and confirmed by an HPD spokesperson. Slate Property Group provided different figures on a slide used in an October presentation to the CB11 Land Use Committee meeting, but a spokesperson for the project confirmed it will follow HPD’s posted guidelines.
Either 25% of the building will be marked permanently affordable at no more than 60% AMI, or 30% of the building will be marked permanently affordable at no more than 80% AMI, according to John Valladares, a vice president of development at Slate Property Group who presented to the Land Use Committee.
The bedroom breakdown for the project has not been determined yet, a project spokesperson told the Bronx Times.
Valladares and Rudy Fuertes, who said he has been the president of the Fine Fare Supermarkets location for 30 years, assured board members that the store would be temporarily relocated to 2803 Boston Rd., which is two blocks away from the project site, during construction and then put back onto the ground floor of the proposed building.
There is additional retail and community space available on the ground floor of the building in the proposal, and developers want to hear from the community about how to fill it, according to Valladares. One space could host a nonprofit, a childcare center or a medical space, he said, and the other could host a local business ready to expand.
The development will come with 117 parking spaces, of which 50 would be for the supermarket that could potentially also be used for overnight parking, according to a project spokesperson.
Slate Property Group, which owns the site, will partner with Neighborhood Initiatives Development Corporation (NIDC) to get the word out about the lottery to local residents, according to Valladares. NIDC is a Bronx nonprofit that provides youth services, as well as support for parents, like landlord-tenant relations and helping people in the shelter system, according to the organization’s executive director Will Foster.
Developers were already met with skepticism at the committee meeting, with a handful of community residents expressing concerns ranging from access to the supermarket to parking and school capacity.
Grace Lovaglio and Roxanne Delgado were not impressed with the AMI levels for the apartments, saying they wouldn’t be affordable enough for locals.
Lovaglio, who said she has shopped at the supermarket for decades, called the building a “monstrosity.”
“We don’t need this here,” she said. “We are full density in this area. Go to Morris Park; go to Pelham Parkway; go to Throggs Neck. We are dense enough in this area.”
A proposed rezoning for Bruckner Boulevard in Throggs Neck to build 348 units faced heavy pushback in the neighboring Community District 10 from the local community board, as well as Councilmember Marjorie Velázquez until a last-minute about-face. It was nevertheless successful, with support from the City Council and the mayor in the face of a housing crisis.
Jaclyn Scarinci, a lawyer from Akerman LLP who represented the Bruckner developers in their rezoning request, also represents this project.
Reach Aliya Schneider at aschneider@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4597. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
