La Peninsula, Expanding in the Bronx, Awarded 2nd City-Owned Grocery Store
One of the first buildings opened as part of the award-winning, 100% affordable mixed-use development La Peninsula in the Bronx, N.Y., has been announced as the second location for a City of New York-owned grocery store.
This news coincides with the design debut of its third and final phase, which adds at least 250 affordable units and a healthcare center and other amenities, as well as the impending opening of its second phase, with 359 units and additional neighborhood services and amenities.
According to architect and planner Victor Body-Lawson, FAIA, whose firm Body Lawson Associates Architects & Planners (BLA) has been collaborating with WXY architecture + urban design as the campus’ architect, the grocery store was awarded by Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and the New York City Economic Development Corporation earlier this year. In addition, says Body-Lawson, La Peninsula will add more than 300 affordable units to welcome new tenants this fall, and the third and final phase is deep in design development.
In planning for more than a decade, La Peninsula represents an acclaimed reimagining of the five-acre former site of a notorious juvenile detention facility, a three-phase development originally conceived to deliver a total of 740 affordable rentals on a vibrant campus combining housing with commercial, healthcare, retail amenities, and other uses – and which as now executed will ultimately deliver close to 800 total housing units. The first phase, totaling 56,000 square feet, introduced 183 affordable units alongside light industrial spaces supporting entrepreneurship and even light manufacturing.
Highly recognizable with its eye-catching sawtooth roofline, the commercial structure is undergoing new updates to support its use as the first of five planned city-owned grocery stores, which Mayor Mamdani made a central part of his 2024 election campaign.
“It’s an exciting and unexpected new chapter in this ongoing development,” says Body-Lawson. “La Peninsula was conceived to address the challenges that the surrounding community have faced for decades, such as skyrocketing housing costs and lack of access to health and wellness services. Being part of the Mayor’s municipal grocery store program further underscores the vitality and affordability of this new campus in a reviving part of the Bronx, so we are honored to see it happen.”
Body-Lawson notes that Hunts Point residents have for years been living in one of New York City’s most severe food deserts — where fresh meat, dairy, eggs and produce are hard to find within a quarter-mile radius — so the Mayor’s announcement about a city-owned grocery offering deep discounts on those items is especially welcome.
At the same time, the two-building second phase of La Peninsula is scheduled to finish construction approximately by year’s end, ushering in 303 affordable residences in towers designed by BLA and WXY. Those with qualifying income levels and selected by lottery through the city’s Department of Housing Preservation & Development to lease a unit in either the 14- or 17-story building will enjoy access to fitness rooms, laundry areas, outdoor terraces and a bike room, as well as free broadband internet, in-unit dishwashers, and gas utility included in the rent, which can be as low as $465.00 for a studio.
As for the third phase, BLA is working closely with WXY to finalize design of a fifth and final affordable mixed-use building with about 250 more affordable rentals and anchored by a street-level healthcare center for the Hunts Point community, as well as a new fitness center, daycare service, and other resident amenities. According to Body-Lawson, project developers Gilbane Development Company, Hudson Companies and Mutual Housing Association of New York will soon announce a projected date for the construction start.
Adds Body-Lawson, who is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, “The Hunts Point community is resilient and vibrant, and our hope is that by contributing to La Peninsula we can positively impact their lives with respect to affordability, and ease of access to much-needed goods and services.”
source https://zweiglist.com/la-peninsula-expanding-in-the-bronx-awarded-2nd-city-owned-grocery-store/
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