Compass Residences is an ambitious, multi-phase collaboration to create a 1,374-unit master-planned community for low-and-moderate income families.
Compass Residences transformed underused, industrial, and inner-city properties into a large and thriving affordable housing community. Monadnock Development and their partners at Signature Urban Properties purchased several acres of mostly abandoned land and buildings between 2007 and 2012 in preparation for the largest rezoning in the history of the Bronx. Following the rezoning, the Monadnock team completed a major environmental remediation under the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program.
Compass Residences consists of approximately 1.4 million sq. ft. and 1,374 units of affordable housing for families serving a mix of incomes: homeless, very low-income, and moderate-income households. Seven of the eight proposed buildings, containing 1,113 of the total units, are completed as of 2020. The development team has also donated a piece of land along Boone Avenue south of East 173rd Street to the New York City School Construction Authority for the construction of a new public elementary school.
LOCATION
Crotona Park East/West Farms
Bronx, NY
TYPE
New Construction: Low-and-moderate Income
SQUARE FOOTAGE
1,391,191
UNITS
1,374
Challenges
Most potential tenants knew Crotona Park as the most dangerous and desolate part of the West Farms community. It was also separated from the rest of the neighborhood by the Sheridan Expressway, which made it optimal for heavy industrial use but not ideal for a residential community. Therefore, Monadnock’s biggest challenge was to alter these negative beliefs. To do this, we had to quickly deliver both extraordinary scale and quality to transform the neighborhood.
As part of the massive construction process, the Monadnock team had to overcome significant environmental conditions caused by more than half a century of industrial pollution. The team and its consultants removed lead, dry-cleaning solvent, and groundwater contamination from a number of sites.
In addition, the team managed an archaeological site at the corner of Boone Avenue and East 172nd Street, which contained the 150-year old remains of a Dutch Reformed Cemetery. Monadnock hired an archaeological team to oversee the excavation and removal of graves in a safe and respectful manner.
Finally, the team successfully worked with the State of New York to restructure the Sheridan Expressway so that residents were no longer isolated. As a bonus, access to the newly renovated Starlight Park and the Boat House, both across the Sheridan, is now easier for Compass residents than for anyone else in the neighborhood.
Results
Monadnock, Signature, and their financial and public partners have committed over $500 million in this area of the Bronx to improve the quality of life for thousands of New Yorkers and integrate Compass Residences into the West Farms community.
The result of this investment is that Compass Residences has reinvigorated West Farms, adding over 2,500 new residents, neighborhood retail, and a landscaped public space to a once desolate and industrial neighborhood.
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