Bronx, New York: Innovative Design of Via Verde's Affordable Housing Development

Bronx, New York: Innovative Design of Via Verde’s Affordable Housing Development

HUD USER publishes a series of best-practice examples based on federal, state, and local strategies that increase affordable housing opportunities, integrate sustainable features and practices, and increase access to public transportation. The projects featured in these reports have demonstrated innovation through a multitude of partnerships and initiatives.

The most recent Case Study is Via Verde in the Melrose Commons area of the South Bronx in New York City. Winner of the New Housing New York Legacy Project design competition, the LEED Gold-certified development is an incubator of sustainable design features that promote resource efficiency and an active, healthy lifestyle for residents. The signature element of the project is a vertical network of rooftop gardens that follows the buildings’ wrapped terrace form. The 222-unit mixed-income and tenure development is emblematic of the transformation taking place in the South Bronx. Once an infamous symbol of urban decline, the Melrose neighborhood features 2,800 new housing units constructed since the creation of a community-based renewal plan in the 1990s.

Visit HUD USER’s Case Studies Resource page to learn more about the innovations at Via Verde, and to view other promising examples of how communities across the nation are raising the bar on affordable, sustainable development.