One Housing Nonprofit Buys Five Bronx Lots From Another

An organization dedicated to creating and restoring livable and affordable housing in New York City has sold a five-building parcel, including the multifamily buildings they host, to a fellow housing nonprofit with a similar mission.

MBD Community Housing Corporation — which has “successfully sponsored, constructed and renovated over 2,300 units of housing,” according to its website — paid a total of $32.3 million for five multifamily buildings in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx. The five sites are at 2160 Walton Avenue, 1851-1859 Walton Avenue, 1881 Walton Avenue, 1815 University Avenue and 1805 University Avenue. 

The seller was Neighborhood Restore, a nonprofit which cites its mission as working with city agencies to “efficiently transition properties from physical and financial abandonment to responsible third-party ownership.” 

Traded first noted the sale. Representatives for MBD and Neighborhood Restore did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Public records indicate that 2160 Walton Avenue transferred ownership at least 10 times between 1967 and 1996, and that some of the other buildings have similar histories. 

At least four of the buildings, and possibly the fifth under a different address, were among 14 cluster site homeless shelters purchased by the city in June 2021 for $122 million for the purpose of converting them into permanent affordable housing, according to City Limits. 

(Cluster sites are privately-owned apartments that use public funding to house the homeless. The sites have been widely criticized for subpar living conditions.)

Public records isolate the purchase price for 2160 Walton Avenue in that 2021 sale as $7,274,534, and list the buyer as Neighborhood Renewal Housing Development Fund Corporation, the official name of Neighborhood Restore.

Bronx sites rehabilitated by MBD in the past include the 128-unit 1714 Crotona Park East, the 28-unit senior housing facility Rose Ellen Smith Housing at 1131 West Farms Road, and the 186-unit senior housing project Bryant Mews at 1700 Bryant Avenue. 

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.