Things are looking up in the particularly notorious district of the South Bronx, but there’s a downside to all this. As in the rest of New York, housing costs in the South Bronx are skyrocketing.

That’s bad news for low-income residents who are in the market for a new home they can afford. For them, the term “affordable housing” has increasingly become an oxymoron.

That’s why the 30 row houses that went up on Melrose Avenue earlier this year are so welcome. Known as Melrose II Partnership Homes, the $12 million project was constructed entirely of precast concrete panels and hollow core planks — materials that helped hold down the price of the housing by saving on construction time and labor costs. Yet, aesthetics weren’t sacrificed. The precast process allowed for architectural detailing that guaranteed the results would be anything but drab concrete boxes.

“These homes have the flavor of the city — brownstone buildings,” says Orlando Marin, the Bronx-born director of design and construction for the New York City Housing Partnership. “The homes look beautiful, let me tell you. I’m totally impressed with the product,” Marin says.

With its classic architectural features, Melrose II marks a milestone in precast construction.

“This particular product has not been used for this type of project,” says Les Bluestone, a partner in MCII Associates and developer of Melrose II “Typically it’s used in commercial, retail or industrial. There’s a level of detail in residential structures that normally doesn’t occur in the others.”

Precast’s versatility allowed Bluestone to build homes that don’t look like they cut corners to remain affordable. “We were able to get a lot of that detailing into the panel at a fairly modest cost,” says David Danois, of Danois Architects in New York, who designed Melrose II.

“We’re trying to create something that looks like it’s been there for a while. Not something trendy.” Bluestone says.

Bluestone’s previous affordable housing projects typically included some precast concrete elements. Melrose II was the first time the developer went all the way.

“I’ve been trying to do it for years and could never really get the numbers to work out,” he says. “The big advantage of precast is the time savings, and it’s impossible to equate time savings in dollars.”

Planning and building the project was a learning experience for Bluestone and the other principals. The first test was translating Danois’ design into a plan that maximized precast’s advantages while holding down costs. To that end, the project’s precaster, Oldcastle Precast, employed the services of architect Michael Smith, of Equus Design Group Inc. in Belmont, MA. The effort was “very collaborative,” Smith says.

The changes came in “lots of little details,” according to Harold Messenger, director of market and product development for Oldcastle’s Northeast Group. The builders wanted to limit brick sizes to half and whole. But the cornices above the windows would have required bricks to be cut around them to fit. The solution was to bracket the cornices with square concrete blocks, Messenger says.

Danois was excited by the results. “For us it was a whole new experience in coordinating between plant and shop drawings. With the detail, it was almost like building a watch.”

Melrose II is being built under the supervision of the public-private New York City Housing Partnership. “The city deeds the land to (the housing partnership). Under an agreement we signed we’re designated for designing, building and marketing the homes,” Bluestone says.

The housing partnership requires that owners be first-time buyers, show an income of $42,000 and have acceptable credit. Owners are also required to live on site. Despite the units’ $300,000 price tag, Bluestone says the preliminary marketing of the 30 homes drew “hundreds of applications.” [ return to top ]