By Cindy Lau
Mount Hope Monitor

Two West Bronx non-profits, Morris Heights Health Center (MHHC) and Mount Hope Housing Company, will break ground this fall on a $43 million project that will house a healthcare center, large retail space, and 70 apartments for low-income seniors.

The six-story building, christened the Harrison Circle Project, will be built on the northeast corner of Burnside and Harrison Avenues, in the heart of Morris Heights’ commercial district.

Shaun Belle, president and chief executive officer of Mount Hope Housing Company, said that the building “will be critical to the enhancement of services that both organizations will provide, as well as physically enhancing and stimulating the growth and value of businesses along the Burnside Avenue corridor.”

The retail space will most likely be turned into a pharmacy to complement the new healthcare services, said Verona Greenland, president and chief executive officer of MHHC.

Construction has begun, and is expected to finish in December 2009. Greenland said the health center alone will create 75 to 100 new jobs, and pump close to $15 million into the local economy.

The new center will enable MHHC to provide healthcare to an additional 30,000 people, in what the government has designated a “medically underserved” neighborhood. It will offer a mix of primary and specialty healthcare services, including digital mammography.

Mount Hope Housing Company, MHHC’s partner in the project, owns and manages more than 30 Bronx apartment buildings, but this is the first time they’ve built or managed housing specifically for seniors.

The project has received financial support from Congressman Jose Serrano, the City Council and State Senate and the Bronx Borough President. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development has also contributed through its tax-credit program. Funding for the 70 apartments has been secured from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

According to Greenland, however, the project’s estimated construction costs have recently skyrocketed and they’re now hunting for an additional $9 million.
Still, both Greenland and Belle say the project will go ahead as planned. And they remain excited about its potential to help those in need and to breathe new life into the neighborhood.

“The Harrison Circle Project will transform West Burnside Avenue by bringing back a sense of vitality that the Morris Heights community has not been seen in a long time,” Greenland said.

This story originally appeared in the Mount Hope Monitor