Studio apartments approved for Bronx manufacturing site. The not-for- profit, Audubon Housing Development Fund Corporation, applied for a variance to construct a 36,596- square-foot building with 60 studio apartments to house youths who no longer qualified for foster care and low-income young adults. The project site, located on three lots along East 176th Street and Third Avenue in the Bronx, required a use variance because the site was zoned for manufacturing.

Borough President Adolfo Carrión, Jr., United States Congressman Jose Serrano, State Senator Efrain Gonzalez, Jr. and representatives of the Administration for Children’s Services and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development all testified in support.

Audubon argued that the site required remediation, which increased construction costs. It added that the lots were historically residential and, overall, the site was too small to support as-of-right manufacturing uses.

BSA agreed, granting the variance. As a not-for-profit, Audubon was not required to prove the feasibility of an as-of-right use.

BSA: 507 East 176th Street (112-06-BZ) (Oct. 17, 2006). CITYADMIN