UPDATED, March 15, 11:53 a.m.: Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council are ready to move forward with the redevelopment of a former juvenile jail in the Bronx into a sprawling mixed-use development.
The Council’s Land Use Committee on Thursday voted to approve the $300 million plan, Politico reported.
Hudson Companies, Gilbane Development and the Mutual Housing Association of New York plan to develop the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center into a five-acre complex dubbed “the Peninsula” with 740 units of affordable housing, 52,00 square feet of recreational space and 49,000 square feet of light industrial space.
The juvenile jail closed in 2011 following years of protests from advocates pushing for criminal justice reform.
Local City Council member and new Land Use chair Rafael Salamanca negotiated a deal that ensures the units that are not permanently rent regulated will stay below market rate for 60 years.
“When I was a kid, this was a place where it was drug-infested [and had] prostitution and crime,” he said. “This jail that closed down in 2011 has just been sitting there vacant, dark.” [Politico] – Rich Bockmann