425 Grand Concourse Will Debut As The Country’s Largest Passive House High-Rise, In Mott Haven, The Bronx

 

The Bronx will soon be home to the country’s largest Passive House high-rise development. Located at 425 Grand Concourse in Mott Haven, the 26-story building will create 277 units of affordable housing, a neighborhood supermarket, a community health center, a cultural center, and a 30,000-square-foot educational facility for CUNY’s Hostos Community College.

The 277 apartments at 425 Grand Concourse will be reserved for low- and moderate-income households and individuals. Residential amenity spaces will include an outdoor recreation deck on the 25th floor, two communal lounges, a fitness room, laundry rooms, bike storage, and a landscaped roof terrace on the third floor.

As a Passive House building, the structure incorporates a high-performance envelope that provides greater airtightness compared to typical building and construction standards. This results in a reduction of heat loss or temperature gain, improved temperature control, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The building will also feature energy-efficient lighting systems, building mechanicals, and facilities. For tenants, this is expected to result in lower monthly utility bills.

Designed by Dattner Architects, the structure will eventually comprise 310,000 square feet. The building’s superstructure topped out early in January, and today, construction is 75 percent complete. The project is on track to debut in spring 2022.

“A large multi-family development such as 425 Grand Concourse is the ideal project for employing Passive House design, because the ratio between envelope size and enclosed building volume is very favorable,” said Christoph Stump, vice president of design and construction for Trinity Financial in New York, one of three developers responsible for the project. “Energy-recovery ventilation, heat-recovery heating and cooling, and the added work that goes into creating an airtight building with minimal thermal bridges adds relatively little cost to a project.”

The development team also includes MBD Community Housing Corporation and New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Monadnock Construction is the general contractor.

“Our rapid progress on 425 Grand Concourse is exciting to watch each day, and it is truly energizing the entire Mott Haven community in the Bronx,” said Thomas Brown, vice president of development for Trinity Financial, who oversees the company’s New York operations. “The residents who will occupy the 277 units of affordable housing will form the heart and soul of what we are creating.”