On June 20, 2025, Mayor Eric Adams joined BRP Companies, Hudson Companies, and city officials to break ground on the final phase of La Central, a major affordable housing development in the South Bronx. This phase will add 420 new affordable homes—63 designated for formerly homeless residents—and includes supportive services, community facilities, and public green space. With over 1,000 mixed-income units, a YMCA, media studio, and even a rooftop observatory for Bronx Science students, La Central exemplifies public-private collaboration and long-term urban investment. The project underscores the Adams administration’s housing agenda, driven by the “City of Yes” zoning reforms, a record $24.7B capital budget for housing, and an emphasis on equity, sustainability, and community-centered growth.
Transcript: Mayor Adams, BRP Companies, and Hudson Companies Break Ground on 420 New Affordable Homes in Melrose, Final Phase of Larger “La Central” Project in the Bronx
Marlee Busching-Truscott, Managing Director, Development, Hudson Companies: I’m Marlee Busching, the managing director of Development at the Hudson Companies.
Amdy Cohen, Managing Director, BRP Companies: And I’m Andy Cohen, managing director at BRP Companies.
Busching-Truscott: And we’re incredibly honored to welcome you today to the groundbreaking ceremony of La Central Phase II. What is now a hole, will soon be home to 420 affordable apartments, with 63 set aside for formerly homeless residents with supportive services from Breaking Ground, community facilities, a courtyard complete with a play area for children, and a new public community garden.
Cohen: So as you all know, this project’s been a long time in the making. For some context, when I started working on this, I had a newborn daughter, and my son didn’t yet exist. And today, my daughter’s going into seventh grade, and my son’s going into fifth grade. So you know, it really takes the entire community, a lot of perseverance, a lot of commitment to get a project of this size and scale done. In my case, it takes their entire lifetime.
So I want to thank everyone here today for making this possible. We couldn’t have done it without everyone. We have a packed program, so we’re going to get started. But I wanted to take a minute to thank our partners on the deal. Obviously, we have five buildings, it’s a big project, so we have a lot of partners, many of whom will speak today.
But I want to thank Hudson Companies, Marlee, [Moa, Sally, and David], who are here today. Thanks for partnering with us for the last 12 years on this deal. [Zip, Gillian, and Mary] at BRP, who’ve worked tirelessly to get this phase closed. Larry Hirschfield at ELH, Jerry Kretchmer, who’s here today, who was instrumental in bringing this whole team together. So congrats, Jerry. And Breaking Ground and Communilife, Zach and Michael, who were super involved in the process.
This deal’s gone through a lot. We closed up the first two buildings during COVID and got tenants in. We opened up a YMCA. We opened up a BronxNet. And it was a lot of work, especially given all the uncertainty and everything that’s been going on over the past five, 10 years in the country. So we’re really proud of the team. We’re proud of everyone for being involved and your unwavering commitment to the project.
We also couldn’t have gotten this project done without our partners at the city. Councilman Salamanca, who’s been a huge advocate for the project. But also HPD and HDC, who have really stuck with this deal and really pushed for closing after closing to get this thing wrapped up.
We started this during the Bloomberg administration. This is the third administration and I’d like to say our next speaker, who needs no introduction, is the one who’s going to bring this thing home and has made sure that this site, who’s been a construction site for the last 10 years, is going to be a fully functioning community. So with that said, Mayor Adams, please come up. Thank you.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you and thank all those involved, but specific hats off to the councilman. This was your vision. We were just here a few– day of school, with a school across the street where we did a great deal of renovation and really excited about what this is going to bring.
I do want to do a footnote before we start. This weather, we’re expecting a heat advisory that’s going to take place. We’re going to be, if not going over 100 degrees, we’re going to come close to it. So check on our loved ones, our family members, particularly our older adults.
We’re going to be opening our cooling centers to make sure you have a cool place to go to at the same time. But also, you can go on to our NotifyNYC to find out more information. People don’t realize hot weather is one of the most deadly weather-related health issues here in the city. So let’s take it extremely seriously to make sure that we can protect our loved ones.
And so, to this amazing project, you know, the Deputy Mayor Carrión and his team, the commissioner, the entire team, we had one clear mission. We wanted to be known as an administration that set unprecedented records when it comes down to housing development, and we did just that. Year one, year two, and I believe we’re going to do a year three.
The most amount of units of housing in individual years in the history of the city. What we did with the City of Yes, we looked at our 59 community boards, and it was clear that only 10 of them were building affordable units throughout our entire city. With City of Yes, we changed the game, and now the entire city is saying yes to housing.
And what we are doing with having real partners, I can’t thank this team here enough for their focus and determination, and it really shows what government is about. When we came into office, we didn’t look at the projects that were in the pipeline and stated that because we were not the originators of it, that we should discard it. We said just the opposite. It’s the passing of the baton.
Once we got the baton in our hand, we were able to close major projects that lay dormant for a long time, 2,400 units out in Willets Point with a new school, new soccer stadium, new open space, all 100 percent affordable. And you’re watching what we’re doing throughout this entire city is imperative. But most importantly, it’s the Bronx.
Borough President Gibson and others, I have been here in the Bronx more than any mayor in the history of the city. I don’t need a GPS to find the Bronx. I know the Bronx. And they have been denied for so long. And we were zero focus on how do we bring opportunities here to the borough of the Bronx. And this site is representative of that.
And to the developers, the builders, the contractors, I just really want us to—sometimes we get caught up in the numbers and the beauty of the structure and the building. Think about if you are less likely to grow up in a home, if your housing is secure and you’re growing up in a shelter, you are less likely to graduate from high school. If you don’t educate, you will incarcerate.
The common denominator of those who are on Rikers Island right now is dealing with learning disabilities and a lack of receiving a proper education. So, what you are building here is a public safety issue. What you’re building here is the opportunity and hope to put a key in a door and walk in your own home and not sit in a dormitory setting somewhere and not have to wonder where you’re going to be from year to year, week to week.
That kitchen table is where dreams are made, where you determine where you’re going to college, how you plan out a wedding. How do you talk about major plateaus in your life? And so, congratulations on what you’ve done by building this structure. But more so, congratulations for what you are doing by building the lives of people.
People deserve a safe, clean space to raise children and families. And so, I say to all of us who are in government, sometimes we get pessimistic. I want us to be optimistic. This is a true success story of how we go about placing families and loved ones in housing.
When you look at this building, it’s part of what we did with the Bronx Metro North Plan of 7,000 new homes, 10,000 new jobs to the community. In this next phase of La Central housing development right here is a symbol, 420 new affordable homes for neighborhoods, including 63 supportive units. We’re leading the way of supportive units. We moved more people out of homeless shelters into permanent housing in our years in the history of the city, really focusing on that.
And Phase II is not the final stage. You know, it is the final stage, I should say. But it’s all part of our overall plan. We have already built and brought a new YMCA to the community. And soon, we created a total of nearly 1,000 mixed-income homes, a skate park, a production studio, and an extensive green space for Bronxnites. The Bronx deserves it. They deserve to have the support that they’re receiving.
So, I want to thank HPD, HDC, as well as Hudson Companies. You know, been around a long time, you know that, doing good quality work. BRP Companies, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and Councilmember Rafael Salamanca for helping us get La Central done. Job well done for the children and families who will grow up here. They’re going to appreciate this, and they’re going to remember this day. Thank you all.
Busching-Truscott: Thank you, Mayor Adams. Our next speaker has been involved in La Central from the beginning. Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión. Adolfo was actually at our designation ceremony back in 2013, albeit under a different office, but we would like to invite him up now to speak as deputy mayor.
Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión, Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce: Thank you very much. I was in seventh grade in 2013, and now I’m a grandfather. It is so exciting to be here. There’s a maxim, “Be bold, be brief, and be gone.” And we’re going to try to stick to it, borough president, because she reminded me the other day about that.
Mayor, thank you for your leadership on this issue, and for your vision about the future of our city. I just want to literally be very brief. I’m excited about this project. As you know, I have a history here being a councilmember, a district manager before that, and then the borough president for two terms. And seeing the transformation and the rising up like a phoenix of this borough from the rubble of the 1970s and 80s and 90s to where we are today. We are building a place that is about futures and about hope.
But I want to, just for a moment, talk a little bit about the values that drive this. And I mentioned this yesterday, the mayor talks about lived experience and the administration and what drives us every day, what wakes us up every day with a sense of urgency. That sense of urgency, because we have lived that experience, living in housing projects and supported by housing vouchers and leaning on the federal government with a little assistance for a down payment for a house, those kinds of things inform our public policy and our vision for the city. And this project lives in that context.
The City of Yes will add more than 80,000 units of housing to the city. Many of them are affordable housing units. On top of that, five neighborhood programs that cut across the entire city that will add 50,000 units of housing over the next decade to 15 years. On top of that, the mayor referenced the record-breaking production and preservation work that up to now is 72,000 units of housing.
And this year, as the mayor suggested, that record will once again be broken. And I got the report this morning. I can’t say the number publicly yet, but it’s so exciting. It’s so hard to keep inside. But it’s going to be another excellent year, which will add another 100,000 units of housing in a four-year term for this mayor. The work that we’re doing is driven by the experience we’ve lived and the values we bring to this work.
So I just want to say this for the members of the media. In three and a half years, this administration will have delivered more housing to the City of New York than two mayoral administrations over a 20-year period. Just think about that. And it’s homes, and it’s opportunity, and it’s jobs, and it’s all the activity that surrounds this work that we do.
So to all of the partners that will be mentioned by everybody, I want to say thank you to Councilmember Salamanca, who saw this and embraced it, to Borough President Gibson, who came in and grabbed the torch and ran with it. Thank you all for your leadership. Let’s continue this important work. And thank you to HPD.
Cohen: Thanks, deputy mayor. Next up, a true force, a huge supporter of the project, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson.
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson: Thank you so much. Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It’s so good to be here. What a beautiful day that we have truly been blessed with. And certainly right here in the South Bronx, in the Hub, I’m so grateful to be here with our mayor, Eric Adams. Thank you for being a five borough mayor and recognizing that there’s no place like the Bronx. And I appreciate your support, your commitment, your dedication, and always putting money where your commitment is. Thank you so much.
What a major milestone for us here at La Central, Phase II of this incredible opportunity to build affordable and supportive housing for residents and families across our borough and across the City of New York. This kind of development, ladies and gentlemen, does not happen overnight. It takes years of collaboration, of commitment, of a shared belief and a shared vision and blueprint in what our neighborhoods deserve, what our children and families, our veterans and older adults, and what everyone deserves.
I take this moment to recognize all of our partners who have been deeply committed to the redevelopment and the growth of the South Bronx. You recognize that for us as a borough, we have often been counted out. But what I love to say is when folks count us out, we count ourselves in, because we recognize that we represent greatness that is deeply rooted in our, not just public service, but in our deep commitment to the people that we are entrusted to serve.
So thank you so much, Mayor Eric Adams and your administration. To Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión, Jr., number 12, thank you so much, 12th borough president. We go by numbers. Yes, I recognize my predecessor, Ruben Diaz, Jr., number 13. I want to recognize our councilmember, Rafael Salamanca, Jr. Thank you for your leadership and always being a part of the development of the South Bronx and making sure that La Central is where we are today.
To our HPD commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, it’s great to be with you. It’s great to have you as our acting commissioner at HPD. I talk to our commissioner a lot, but I talk to you a lot as well. Thank you. Thank you to the team at HDC, to NYSERDA, our partners at the state, to Redstone Equity Partners, Neil Farley at the Bronx High School of Science. We love that high school. To Breaking Ground, to BRP, to Communilife, to Hudson Companies, to Broadway Builders, to everyone that has been a part of this incredible project.
Of course, I recognize our community leaders, because they too have a shared vision when it comes to development and growth and opportunities here in the South Bronx. Our district manager of Community Board One, Anthony Jordan. Thank you, Anthony. Paola Martinez, thank you for being here. Pedro Suarez, our executive director of the Third Avenue Business Improvement District, thank you as well. And really each and every one of you.
In the midst of a deepening affordability crisis in our city, this moment is more than a groundbreaking. It is a bold and forward-thinking investment in the future of our borough. With Phase II here at La Central, we are adding 420 new affordable homes, including set-asides for supportive housing, formerly homeless New Yorkers, through the NY 15/15 program. These units will be paired with wraparound services, social services, and when complete, will bring thousands of units of deeply affordable housing right here in the heart of the South Bronx.
These homes are not just a physical manifestation of dignity, of stability, and equity, but they offer a true mix of housing. Studios, one, two, you know I love three- and four-bedroom apartments. It matters for our large and growing families, but making sure that we have mixed-income housing for those that are at the lowest end of the spectrum, at 30 percent AMI, all the way to 80 percent of the AMI. That’s real affordability, and it’s tailored to real families who have called the Bronx and New York City their home for years.
La Central stands out not just for the scale of this project, but for the vision, a vision of housing and wraparound services and access to open space and green space, sustainability, inclusivity, community-centered. This phase of La Central is beautifully designed with public gardens and more than 1,500 square feet of new retail space to serve and strengthen our South Bronx community.
Even more inspiring is the commitment to innovation and sustainability. We believe in passive housing standards, operating entirely on electricity to eliminate carbon emissions, to draw down on our high asthma rates, because we are a part of Not62 for a healthier Bronx. We believe in LEED Gold certification. We believe in truly unique approaches to our housing projects so that they build character in our community.
We believe in rooftop work and opening spaces where families and children and students of the Bronx High School of Science have the ability to not only broadcast classroom citywide, bringing cutting-edge science education to our students and placing our borough at the center of innovative approaches and creativity.
This building is about the future, ladies and gentlemen. It is about laying the groundwork for all of the opportunities that the Bronx truly deserves. I am grateful that we have come together to not only pour money into this project, but to pour love and labor into our community, because when we do that, we are investing in our children. We’re investing in our families. We’re giving them hope and stability and sustainability like never before. So I congratulate you on the groundbreaking of La Central Phase II. Let us continue to build, to inspire, and encourage for generations to come. Congratulations, everyone, and thank you so much.
Busching-Truscott: Thank you, borough president. Another stalwart supporter of La Central through the years has been Councilmember Salamanca. Not only has the councilmember shown his support for the project through his discretionary funding contributions, but he regularly visits the project through his membership at the YMCA over in Phase I. Councilmember, I hope you got a good workout in this morning and you can make it up these stairs, but please join us to say a few words.
City Councilmember Rafael Salamanca: All right, buenos dias. I’m truly happy to be here today. You know, my son was one and a half years old when I first approved this project here, and now he’s going to be 11 years old, so it just takes you back to how long we’ve been working together on getting this done.
You know, in the nine years that I’ve been in office, I’ve been able to approve over 10,000 units of 100 percent affordable housing. My office, well, my district alone has approved more housing than 26 councilmember’s districts combined, just to put that in perspective for you.
But Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you because it’s one thing to close on projects and approve them in the Council. It’s another thing to close on them and get the work done and get the groundbreaking done. And to give you all the credit in the world on this, I’ve worked with two administrations and this administration, through your Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión and your Commissioner Ahmed, they have closed more projects in my district than the previous administration, and I thank you for that.
Because many times we go around the district, we speak about what we’ve built, what we’ve approved in the City Council, but the reality is that the community wants to see it. They want to feel it. And that is what we’re doing here today.
You know, this project is meaningful for me. I went to Alfred E. Smith High School right up the block. For those of you that are from the Bronx, you know that Alfred E. Smith High School is right up the block. And in the 90s, I would take the four bus, it would leave me in the corner on Bergen, and I would walk. And what I would see here is just rubble and mattresses and homeless individuals and homeless encampments.
I would go to school, see that, come back home, and I would see that as well. And it feels great to know that I’m born and raised in this community. Now I stand here as your councilmember, and I have a footprint in the redevelopment of this empty lot that was just rubble.
In my time on the Council, I’ve been able to bring over $400 million to my district alone. And I’m proud to say that of that $400 million, $25 million has been capital funding to get affordable housing projects done. And of that $25 million, $4 million has been for this project.
And I know that the developer here, Hudson—I have to give credit to your lobbyist, [Prisca]. Where are you? Because it was [Prisca] who fought hard for that $4 million. And just like I said, at La Peninsula, she got you another four there. Make sure you keep her on board because she’s getting the job done.
And with that, you know, I’ll leave you with this. With every apartment built, with each new community space created, we are weaving a stronger fabric of opportunity, stability, and belonging. Today we break ground, and tomorrow we build dreams. Que Dios los bendiga. Gracias.
Translation: May God bless you. Thank you.
Cohen: Thank you, councilmember. You are one of the most persistent supporters of this project throughout the entire process, and we appreciate it. We wouldn’t be here without you. Next, HPD. We couldn’t do this without HPD. And I want to say a few words. HPD is near and dear to my heart.
Ted Weinstein has been on this project for a long time. Ted, pushing us to do this right. The level of detail has been amazing, and it’s led to, quite frankly, a better community project. So thank you, Ted. I want to say, you know, to echo the councilmember’s words, this administration got it done. And it was not an easy one. It was not an easy one at all.
And once Ahmed and Kim Darga and Dan Moran and Alex got on the scene and really took the reins, they were like, “We’re going to get this deal done.” And they got it done. I also want to thank Madeline Levin, who was the project manager on this. This was one of the smoothest closings, considering the complexity of this deal that I’ve seen in my career. So I want to thank you and welcome you up to the stage to say a few words.
Acting Commissioner Ahmed Tigani, Department of Housing Preservation and Development: I was thinking about my milestones and I think when this project was designated, I had just tricked my wife into marrying me. And now our kindergartner just walked the stage this morning. So that’s what I’ll remember today.
So I’m doing a lot of walking around and thinking, what do the sights and visions mean to me? And when you look around this site, and when you think about what this project has already done and what this project is going to do, it tells you that during a crisis, to help ensure a strong city, the answer to affordable housing should always be a strong and emphatic yes.
In every neighborhood, yes for all New Yorkers to grow in, to learn from, and build around. Here, we say yes for the next generation, for the older New Yorker who has spent their life serving this city. For the single mother trying to raise two young children with little support, but determined to raise her children in the greatest city in the world, like my mother did, you say yes to them. And for every New Yorker across the five boroughs who deserve the dignity of a stable home, we’re saying, and we should always say, yes to them.
Because, when you think about La Central, it’s a powerful example of what happens when we say yes with intention. If you just look across the street, Phase I is full of life. It’s full of people with unscripted, yet-to-be-determined possibilities. And now Phase II deepens that investment with 420 new homes, a community center, a garden, and even a telescope. When have we talked about telescopes in affordable housing? Where high school children will be able to not only help each other and their peers, but the people who make up their neighborhood.
So I just want to thank the people who thought not only about deeply affordable housing, about thinking thoroughly about what kind of shape it should take, but going beyond and looking at what other partners they can bring in. These are not just amenities. This is an opportunity for a child who looks through the telescope to dream about becoming a scientist. It’s for that person who is looking at their notes and realizing that it disappeared.
But I will say very quickly that the opportunity to build housing in the City of New York does not come at a cheap cost. We are a city that we know has many obstacles. There are many reasons not to do it. But as I said before, there’s one main reason to do it. We are in a city that has a mayor who has put the most money into our housing capital budget. That’s $24.7 billion.
And we talked about supportive housing before. This mayor has attacked the problem of our supportive housing by moving $140 million into the supportive housing budget, making possible the movement of 6,000 new congregate units in the future for this city, because we know how important supportive housing is.
Once again, the promise of this project is something that’s already been proven across the street. We see it’s beginning to my right. And we are just glad and fortunate not only to the development team who put together this project. We’re not only committed and appreciative of the elected officials, the community board, the bid, and all the stakeholders who had a hand in shaping it. We’re appreciative of the City of New York, the New Yorkers who trusted us to make these decisions and move forward in this way.
So thank you for the opportunity to speak here today. On behalf of HDC and HPD and all my colleagues in city government, we are lucky to have you as partners, and we are lucky to have La Central move forward.
Busching-Truscott: Thank you, commissioner. We’ve heard a lot from the public sector, and of course, they’re an instrumental part of all of this. But, another key part is private investment, and we’re lucky enough to have Richard Roberts from Redstone Equity Partners here today, who provided significant investment through LIHTC and Brownfields Tax Credit Equity into this project and is part of the reason why we’ve got excavators over there. So Richard.
Richard Roberts, Principal and Chief Business Development Officer, Redstone Equity Partners: Thank you. You know, I’m the money guy, so I’m going to write the check and be silent. But I’ll very quickly– very happy. I’m Richard Roberts. I’m a principal at Redstone Equity Partners. Redstone has invested nearly $12 billion of LIHTC equity throughout the country and 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
We’ve invested about $2.5 billion here in New York State and about $1.5 billion here in New York City. And so it is just great to be here. We worked alongside our partners at J.P. Morgan to invest $128 million of LIHTC equity in this project, and we’re very proud and excited.
I am old enough where I don’t necessarily need to mark time by talking about the age of the project, but I will say this. It is so good to see so many old friends who were instrumental in this project, and it makes it particularly satisfying, from Ted Weinstein to Jerry to Herb to the deputy mayor to Larry, Larry Hirschfield.
But I actually knew Larry’s wife before I knew Larry. So Larry and the Hirschfeld family and I go way back. And of course, my college buddy, David Kramer. So it is so good to see so many people that I’ve known for so long play an instrumental role in making this happen. It makes it even that much more satisfying.
I always, when I come to these events, because the money guy is typically one of the last people to speak, generally everything that needs to be said has been said, with the exception of one thing. It’s generally a call to action with respect to the people in the audience. If you are working on this project, if you plan to live in this project, if you have advocated for this project, I need you to be an advocate for affordable housing and to do so at the federal, state, and local level.
There is a tax bill winding its way through Congress right now that has the prospect, with full bipartisan support, to expand the low-income housing tax credit program and to also make it much easier to access multifamily housing bonds to build more of these projects. I need you to be an advocate for that. I need you to be an advocate for more money at the federal level, at the state level. The city is doing its part, but the federal government and the state need to step up and match the city in its commitment.
I need you to be an advocate for land use and zoning changes, initiatives like the City of Yes, to make it easier to build projects like these so that we can impact the affordable housing crisis. And I also need you to support supportive housing, which is the only known antidote to homelessness. I’m going to say it again. People will say to us, “Oh, what are we going to do about the homelessness problem? Oh, it’s so complicated.” No, it’s not. Supportive housing is the antidote to homelessness. It is the way we impact the problem.
And then finally, I need you to hold up our elected officials like the council member and the borough president. Support them. The fact that they not only are supportive of these projects, but they get up here and they know what they’re talking about is so important for what we need to do in this city and throughout the country. So with that, call to action and thank you very much and congratulations to everybody involved in the project.
Cohen: Thanks Richard. So he mentioned the amount of tax credit equity, $128 million. That doesn’t grow on trees. That’s a hard number to come up with. And you know, when we first brought this project to Richard and Redstone and to JP and Sharmi at Chase, they were like, we’re getting this thing done. And they came to the table and they did it and they were true to their word. And so I want to thank both of you guys. Oh, and sorry, of course, Chris Murray. There’s Chris. Chris was the day to day on this for Redstone. So he actually did all the work. But thanks, Chris.
So next, you know, there’s been a lot of cool aspects of this project. I think that one of the coolest aspects is this telescope that Commissioner Tigani spoke about. So this is a telescope that’s going to be used by the Bronx High School of Science on the top of Building E.
This was, you know, as many of you know, projects that sort of last 10 to 15 years. Things get tweaked, things get changed. And I will say, were it not for Jerry Kretchmer and Aaron Kaufman, we wouldn’t have a telescope here. Jerry was adamant. This telescope is going to get built and this telescope is getting built. So next speaker, I want to welcome up Bronx High School of Science Professor Neil Farley.
Neil Farley, Professor, Bronx High School of Science: So welcome, everybody. My name’s Neil Farley, and I’ve been teaching physics and astronomy at the Bronx High School of Science for almost 30 years, Jerry’s alma mater. And before that, I was a civil engineer. And so I used to be on projects like this all the time, getting my feet dirty, like I just did today.
Anyway, teaching astronomy during the daytime has its challenges, as you can imagine. And, you know, there’s only so much you can see in the day, the sun, the moon, maybe. So what I do is I make my students go attend observing sessions with the AAA, the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York. And Bart Fried, their president, there he is back there. And he’s here today. And anyway, that’s how I met him.
Now, you know, for years, I was trying to get my school to build a telescope on the roof so that kids could stay after school and, you know, after the astronomy class, go up and observe things and things like that. So wasn’t it amazing when one day in 2013, when I had hair, that was my milestone, right? I got a call from Jerry Kretchmer. And he told me that he had this idea to put a telescope on top of an affordable housing building in the Bronx near Bronx Science. And he wanted to know if my students and, in fact, students all over New York City, it would be something that would be valuable to them. And of course, I said yes. And so I was thrilled.
Now, this is no ordinary telescope. Now, if you want to know the details, talk to Bart. But first of all, it will allow students to control it remotely from their homes. So they don’t actually even have to come here and use it. They can use it from their homes, maybe even their cell phones, right? It’s pretty amazing.
Now, living in New York City, there’s a lot of light pollution. You guys have probably heard of light pollution. Well, most students in New York City have never seen the Milky Way, let alone Andromeda, which is our nearest galactic neighbor. This telescope will filter out the light pollution. And so the students will be able to see and even photograph pictures of galaxies, nebulae, and all sorts of other celestial objects as if they were out in the country in some dark field. So, again, special thanks to Bart for introducing these technologies to us.
And now, you know, this telescope displays the philosophy of the La Central team to leave no square foot unturned and uses as much space of this building for community services such as this telescope. So again, thanks to Jerry Kretchmer, Aaron Kaufman, [Mary Serafie], and the entire La Central team for inviting me and my colleague John Powell from the Bronx High School of Science here today. Thank you for the HPD and the HDC and all the H’s, right? And for making our dream and Jerry’s dream and our dream come true.
Big thank you to Mayor Adams for being here also, as well as, you know, the previous administrations that were involved. And, you know, all the way back to, I guess, the Bloomberg administration, so 2013 is when I got involved. So, also, thanks for Borough Presidents Diaz and Gibson, as well as Councilman Salamanca and all the other people that spoke today who I—We give you all our heartfelt thanks. Thank you.
So, we’re excited for the day when New York City kids will be able to take some time away from their cell phones and their video games and maybe photograph and see some of the amazing wonders of our universe. And even be able to do scientific research, as a lot of the students at Bronx Science do. Who knows? This telescope might even inspire the next Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is also a Bronx Science alum. So, thank you so much for giving me this time and congratulations on the groundbreaking. It’s amazing. Thanks.
Busching-Truscott: Thank you, Professor Farley. I have to say, this is the first housing event where we’ve ever, actually talked about the stars and the heavens, so we’re doing something special here. I’d like to take a moment, he’s gotten lots of shout outs, but on behalf of the development team, to thank Jerry Kretchmer. Not only is he a Bronx Science alumni, as we heard, but he was the architect of this team.
He was the one who brought our team of five developers, Hudson, BRP, ELH, and the Kretchmer companies, Breaking Ground and Communilife together, and without him, we would not be standing here today. So, thank you, Jerry. Thank you.
We have a great many other people to thank. We’ve heard some of their names throughout this. Sharmi and the team at Chase Community Development Banking. Chris Murray, getting another shout out, got to put him on the spot. Michael Gelfand and MHG Architects, Broadway Builders and Skycore. We have two GCs here. What you’re not really getting today is, this is one site, that’s another. It’s a lot of work. It’s a huge site. We have two GCs working together to build this.
Our attorneys at Hirschen Singer, Oliver Chase, [Danny Fibush], and to the direct project team, I know Andy thanked you in the beginning, but I have to do my own thanks. [Andy, Sally, Mary, Moa, Zip, Gillian], we’ve been in the trenches together. We would not be here today if not for all of your hard work. I have to say, especially thank you to Mary, who was the architect of this event. Not only did she pull this together in a very short amount of time, she paused the rain and brought us this beautiful weather. Round of applause.
There’s countless other people who have touched this project, and we’d be here for hours and hours if we thank them all, but please know how deeply grateful we are to all of you. For now, please join us for another shovel picture, I think. Some ceremonial groundbreaking for individuals, if they want it. We’ve got photos, we’ve got lunch, and let’s enjoy and celebrate this occasion. We’ve got music. Thank you.
June 20, 2025 New York City Hall, Manhattan
