By Kevin Deutsch
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In a sign of expanding gentrification in the Bronx, builders recently began construction of a massive, mixed-use development at one of the borough’s most notorious former institutions: the violence-plagued Bridges Juvenile Center.
Officials shuttered the notorious Hunts Point facility, officially known as Spofford Juvenile Detention Center, in 2011. Its closure followed years of violence and inmate abuse—much of it carried out inside the jail’s largely unlit, rat-infested cells, which lacked air conditioning.
In its place developers are erecting “Peninsula,” which will feature more than 700 units of affordable housing along with large swaths of land for open community space, an education center, health facilities, local retail stores, and other amenities.
Phase one of the development – expected to be finished in 2021 – will include apartments for households considered “low-income,” “very-low” income, and “extremely low” income. Housing for formerly homeless Bronxites will also be made available, developers said.