A city-owned site on River Avenue in the Bronx will be redeveloped with deeply affordable housing and community space.

Following a public solicitation process, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) announced late last year that a team comprised of Type A Projects, L+M Development Partners, and BronxWorks has been selected to develop River Commons on a property which now serves as a parking lot for the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

“The selected project for the River Avenue H+H site will transform a surface parking lot into affordable housing and community space for the Southwest Bronx, making good on our commitments to the community in the Jerome Avenue Neighborhood Plan,” said HPD Commissioner Carroll in a prepared statement. “I’m thankful to Council Member Vanessa Gibson for her ongoing partnership and want to congratulate Type A, L+M and Bronx Works for this dynamic, forward-looking proposal.”

Located at the intersection of River Avenue and East 168th Street, the River Commons development 278 apartments a mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom floors plans, integrated with the Health and Hospital Corporation's surrounding campus. At street level, plans call for active uses directly below the rail viaduct which runs above River.

The project includes two high-impact community facilities: The BronxWorks Empowerment Center will provide an extensive range of services for the community, including health and nutrition education, fresh food access, after school and summer camp programming, family support, eviction prevention, as well as job readiness, training, and employment services.

In addition to housing, plans call for community facilities including the BronxWorks Empowerment Center, which would offer health and nutrition education, fresh food access, after school and summer programming, job readiness training, and eviction prevention, among other services. BronxWorks will also provide supportive services to formerly homeless residents of the new building.

Another on-site service center, the African Resource Center, would be operated by African Advisory Council and African Communities Together to provide educational programs, services, and community meeting space the African community in the surrounding area.

The project team is hardly a group of strangers - they've previously collaborated on the Universal Hip Hop Museum at Bronx Point.