 Good morning everybody my name is Andrew Kimball president and CEO of New York City's Economic Development Corporation it is amazing to be here you feel the energy in the room Marie and I were just joking that that she and I and the mayor have been in the South Bronx so much recently that we need to get maybe an office maybe an adjunct office and the councilman's space there's a lot going on up here and and and that's really due to tremendous elected leadership over a number of decades and we've got a lot of the players here have been a part of that and so much great on-the-ground leadership from not-for- profits and of course our partners in the private sector who made this project happen this is another transformational project for the South Bronx we're celebrating the completion of phase one of the peninsula that not only has this spectacular 100% affordable housing complex but near and dear to my heart also jobs right across the street and a new retail space on Tiffany Street so EDC works with Mayor Adams to invest in communities to address pressing needs and drive an inclusive economic recovery and in 2015 EDC began working with the community and elected officials on a plan to transform the site of the former spot for juvenile detention center an infamous place that left many scars over many decades and after closed in 2011 served as a painful reminder of an often painful past today though we chip away at that this redevelopment is a symbol of hope for the community a symbol of a better tomorrow addressing neighborhood needs for affordable housing local jobs community and open space it's a prime example of the type of investments the city and this administration will make to generate better outcomes for communities and residents Mayor Adams is committed to addressing the affordable housing crisis and he's particularly focused and Hunts Point and he's working to make this city a place of opportunities for all New Yorkers and for the EDC team so many of whom are here this is also a deeply personal project it's not just another development it's a it's an opportunity to create transformational change an opportunity to better for the South Bronx and the Hunts Point community and I'd like to thank so many of the community members who ensured we upheld your vision every step of the way in particular I'd like to thank our elected officials Richie Torres couldn't be with us today but President Gibson also couldn't make it councilmember Salamanca who we've stood with many times in recent months senator yeah round of applause for that senator sepulveda also couldn't make it an assembly member Septimo who is here delighted to have her I'd also like to thank our city partners at HPD Commissioner carry on who I worked with many years ago on projects in the Bronx and delivered over and over and also former Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr. and now I'd like to introduce the amazing team of developers on this project working tirelessly for the city Manny executive director is many sepuliotis chairman of Gilbane development company Robert Gilbane and Aaron Kaufman with Hudson thank you Andrew you know I think your comment about vision you know many products from down a inspiration and perspiration and I think this project was a good balance of them and certainly with our partner Hudson and Mutual Housing Association of York and our great community partners you know the point Urban Health and they really did a phenomenal you know we think of it the legacy of this project could have been spoffered you know it's a terrible prison and God love the young people that really had to stay there this community pulled together and created a vision that turned it around now we have a new legacy that we can all be so proud of a hundred and eighty five all affordable housing when it's finished the project will have over seven hundred and forty permanent affordable homes so from Gilbane's perspective we were delighted to work with these partners with your agency it was a terrific project and we can't wait to do phase two and phase three thank you thank you Bob Hudson remains grateful for Gilbane and Manny's invitation to join the spectacular team over six years ago thank you and congratulations to our outstanding public agency leaders and they're incredibly dedicated colleagues who work tirelessly to bring the peninsula to life they deserve a random applause too folks I'm going out on a limb here I'm not sure who tracks this but the peninsula has to be the fastest euler for an affordable housing development or maybe all development in history in history we certified on October 30th 2017 and it was approved by the council on March 22nd 2018 that's right four months four months and 24 days start to finish on a seven month process it's a real it's a I'm just curious do we have anyone here from council land use or or maybe even Guinness book of world records to confirm I'm just I'm curious here okay but seriously how did we do it well this is what equitable development looks like with partners like the point CDC Bronx works urban health plan we crafted a development program led by their priorities and their concerns about the existing detention center we were guided by the incomparable Paul Lipson and Burrero Bay Pablo to ensure an inclusive retail in a community space plan that in that encouraged and enabled Bronx businesses to expand here this is what public-private partnership looks like we met and more importantly listened at least we hope you think so to Ralph Acevedo and chair Bobby Crespo of community board to and their staff and we worked with chair Salamanca and his staff on it yes of course you're gonna get a lot of love today yeah you deserve it and his staff on an affordability program that opens doors for more residents of Hunts Point and the South Bronx and this is what leadership looks like we heard the stories from the honorable bro president Ruben Diaz Jr. about he and his friends childhoods were influenced by Spofford and the mere mention of you could end up at Spofford serving as a threat during his teenage years it was important to the deep to the BP to get this development right it was important to chair Salamanca to get this development right they gave us so much of their time and the project is better today because of them and we can't thank them enough thank you and in another tip of the cap to leadership the peninsula has become a three-mayor sandwich it was Mayor Bloomberg that shut Spofford down in 2011 Mayor de Blasio's team selected sorry solicited development proposals graciously selected our team and finance the first phase of development of the peninsula which we see here today and we are hoping Mayor Adams deputy mayor commissioner that we will bring phases two and three to life in the coming years hopefully maybe in December wink wink mr. I know the mayor isn't here today but we're certainly happy that he will be here shortly and how did we build it finally let's be sure to honor the team that got this building into the sky and wrapped up nicely hunts point builders a joint venture between Broadway builders and Gilbane development you were incredible you spared no expense in keeping construction workers safe during the early days of the pandemic and spared no blood sweat or tears and creating 183 new homes for our Felder New Yorkers you also invested locally in hunts point and the Bronx over 300 workers on this project came from the Bronx 125 of them from hunts point more than 35 percent of the subcontractors were MWBE and over 20 percent yes and over 20 percent were local to hunts point to Alex the duchy Bobby seida long Ron Lee pursue Isaac Garcia Demetri Categas and Alona Yermachova we thank you thank you thank you for your great work so on behalf of my Hudson colleagues especially Serena Deng Berka Kaleemolo and Christine Chang and Sally Gilliland who have been living this development on a daily basis thank you you're all invited to the fastest fastest eulerplac installation here next week thank you all I'm East Meany the executive director Manny and I want to thank everybody for getting us here today and for being here today to celebrate with us so no matter how hard the work was and it was really hard work to get us here today now we have more hard work we are in the middle we are ready to lease up this building to 182 extremely low low and moderate income families of which over a hundred of them are actually residents of Bronx Community Board too so very very excited and we have 18 families coming out of shelter minimally okay there are actually more families that come out of shelter that we actually get through the HPD lottery process so the building really is an opportunity for Hunts Point residents to get an affordable place to live that where they're safe and secure and are living with respect and for families coming out of shelter we can't be more proud we are our partners in making sure that the living experience at Peninsula Building 1B our Gilbane and Hudson will always be with us as owners Gilbane will be supporting the management of the property and Bronx Works will be working with us on site to really really have a truly robust supportive program for our residents and they're excited our residents are excited and we're excited I can't tell you I wish all of you could come on a day when the residents are looking at their apartment for the first time and it there is no feeling no matter how many groundbreaking and how many ribbon cuttings there is nothing in comparison to a family coming to see what is going to be their home that they know they can afford that all of the work that the architects and the development team and the agencies and the builders put into it culminates in that moment when they open that door to that apartment and literally we have tears we have laughter we have joy and and for me all of the work all of the blood sweat and tears that we kind of endure to get there all comes to a fine fine point in that one moment so I want to thank everybody for getting us here and we really look forward to more thank you all right what a great development team before I introduce our next speaker I just want to acknowledge Deputy Borough president and newest EDC board member Janet Poguerro and it's now my great pleasure to introduce my boss who played key roles in this project over a number of different assignments in government deputy mayor Maria Torres Springer thank you Andrew good morning everyone I could not be happier or more inspired to be with all of you this morning I want to thank our amazing elected officials partners in government at EDC at HPD at HDC and of course the wonderful development team is meanie Aaron Bob and all of the community leaders who are here because you fought for a very long time to do the right thing for this site and for this community and so this is a tribute to all of those efforts and for that love and for that care that you showed over the years now I know in government you're not really supposed to have favorite projects but I have to say this one means a lot to me as Andrew mentioned back in 2015 I was at the Economic Development Corporation when the art the initial RFP was released and that was not just any old RFP it was really for all of us an opportunity to make good and to deliver on the community's vision to transform a site a place that everyone who's here knows was for too long a symbol of pain and despair and struggle in this community and to transform it into something better transform it to something that benefits this community and its residents and will benefit them for generations to come I was fortunate enough before leaving EDC to designate the wonderful development team so thank you for not screwing it up and while at HPD was part of a team that helped finance and before I left government was able to do one of the I think there are a few different demolition events but that was so important because the the act of taking down the structure was not just one that was physical I know for so many in this community it was one that was visceral and emotional and met more than just a site coming down and so it's just so meaningful to me to be with all of you today because so much of the work that we do in government is of course not a sprint or a marathon it's a relay and so various people have passed the baton and will continue to pass the baton to make sure that it's not just phase one of this project but it's phase two and phase three to fully deliver on the vision that this community truly deserves we'll talk about December I know there's a lot of conversation that's the man you need to talk to but I just want to mention as Andrew said of course it all starts with safe and affordable housing and this mayor's commitment to safe and affordable housing is unmatched and it has to include a wide range of opportunities and that's why this project I think is so special because the residents of this community will have an opportunity to participate in the neighborhood's economic revitalization Bronx based small businesses can thrive in the industrial space on the site and artists can utilize affordable space to rehearse and so residents won't just have safe affordable housing but really access to the types of jobs that are so critical at all times but especially given what's at stake today in our city and so we know as we look forward we expect a head start for early childhood education a health care center a supermarket all of that as part of phase two and phase three so these will be game changers for the health and the wellness of this community and I really do look forward to coming back to celebrate future milestones and so at some point people said that it wasn't possible to grow anything here in this site or in this community but we all know that's not true because through this project and many others driven by the amazing champions and leaders of this community so much opportunity is going right here in the Bronx and we intend to continue that thank you thank you Maria our next two speakers are really the key players on delivering on housing in New York City and are really going to be driving it the next few years under Mayor Adams and it's really a pleasure to first introduce HPD commissioner Adolfo carry on thank you thank you Andrew and good morning everyone come on church good morning everyone amen what is this I'm number 12 and that's number 13 and number 14 is represented by 14 and a half this this moment is incredibly special to me very personal not I'm I'm almost not here as the commissioner but just as Adolfo from the Bronx revival renewal and restoration doesn't happen by accident the South Bronx's return from the burning South Bronx of the 1970s and you all have heard we all say that that October chilly evening when Howard Cosell turns to the world and says ladies and gentlemen the Bronx is burning and you had the blimp overlooking the South Bronx and you could see fires everywhere it was not government that saved the South Bronx it was not businesses or investors from the outside that saved the South Bronx it was the people the people living in what was left there living and walking among the rubble unfortunately you remember those pictures go attending little storefront churches where around the church there was rubble and then there was this little building and people went in to worship believing that they should not be defined by the limits of their circumstances and the people insisted including the kids and Ruben tells the story best when he talks about the birth of hip hop and the voice of the young people creating an international cultural and music movement that is unmatched in human history because they just couldn't take it anymore and they were not going to be defined by the limits of their circumstances and so then we come along government officials we come along the people from the hood who rise up like a Raphael Salamanca young kid who is in the neighborhood and sees that I got to do something and he gets appointed to a community board and he runs for city council and he becomes the chair of land use and Ruben Diaz and so many others who just decided to roll up their sleeves and the the the like like the deputy mayor suggested it's a relay the relay is long because they just kept passing the baton forward and forward and paying it forward and here we are today at the site of a what was really an ugly place in the history of the Bronx New York City and even the country how we were treating kids how we didn't believe in their dignity as human beings and now look at this this is just the beginning we're going to continue to invest we look forward to working with our community partners Paul the point urban health plan this neighborhood this area did it and we are the supporting actors Eric and I the mayor Andrew Maria we are all the supporting actors now for this community we will support you we will continue to build and we look forward to the next record-breaking phase of this project working with Gilbane Hudson and the Mutual Housing Association of New York congratulations to the general contractor congratulations to every hand that has something to do with the success of today God bless you thank you Adolfo and it's now my great pleasure to introduce HTC president Eric Enderling good morning everyone it is such an honor to be here and you think about what can I add to this conversation I think I think the commissioners said it beautifully and by the way it is so great to work with Maria Torres Springer again congratulations to Maria this is an incredible site and let me start by saying you know one of the foundations of environmentalism is the idea that every place has the potential to be loved and if this if this building shows anything it's absolutely that so it I'm proud to represent the housing finance agency the commissioner just said very rightly that this starts with the people but investment also matters investment is absolutely key HTC is proud to have contributed 56 million dollars to the financing of this development we have the mayor here 56 million dollars to the financing of this development we're very proud of the work and as a houser you know I should be most focused on this building but I have to say in many ways one of the most important buildings on this site is going to be this building when we think about adding jobs and mixing uses and the mayor who's just arrived has said many many times talked about fixing problems upstream and eliminating problems downstream and that's exactly what this does when you create jobs when you mix uses you start to solve problems upstream and mayor we've heard that the people of New York have heard that the housing agencies have heard your message and that's a very very important message let me just congratulate the development team here today let me also congratulate my HTC folks who are here today and HPD my colleagues at HPD as well it is great to be part of this and it's a really fantastic day for the Bronx thank you very much all of us in city government are blessed to have a tremendous partner in the city council and council member Salamanca you just can't get big projects like this done without that kind of leadership it's a great honor to introduce a council member all right good morning Buenos dias I'm excited to be here today I say that all the time I was excited last week when we announced 40 million dollars for Hunts Point yes and I'm even more excited today because we're finally doing the ribbon cutting on what was a formerly a jail here a black eye for the Hunts Point community but before I begin and I know that they mentioned them but I just need to give them acknowledgement we are here today because of the commitment of non-for-profits and individuals here in the South Bronx and in Hunts Point and I need to give a big shout out to Maria Torres Maria please wave your hand I need to give a big shout out to Paul Lipson Paul Lipson you're a visionary for Hunts Point please wave your hand we have the district manager of Bronx Community Board too who's a Hunts Point resident and I know that we mentioned our urban health plan urban health plan has been a visionary not just for healthcare but ensuring that social services and affordable housing is being built in the South Bronx so I need to acknowledge urban health plan Casita Maria and of course manning management for your dedication you know when when Aaron came up and you spoke about this you took four months it took four months because this is what you call responsible development when a developer comes to a community and works with a community gets recommendations and input from the community before you certify a project I tell you all developers when you do that you will have a smooth transition in the city council and that's exactly what happened with this project I have to also give an acknowledgement and a big shout out to EDC EDC prior to assigning a developer EDC came to the community board I was a district manager then gave us different different schematics of different you know what what exactly does the community want here and they allowed us to give input this project is for the community and it was built by the community and I am extremely I'm I just lost for words when we speak about this what was also interesting about this project that I also need to give a big shout out which is to Crescent I know Crescent is here is we we wanted to ensure we wanted to ensure that the developer was actually hiring locally we wanted to ensure that the developer was doing what they needed to do in terms of ensuring that local residents had a footprint in this project and Crescent the developer did not need to hire Crescent but they did and Crescent held the developer as feet by the fire and reported back to the community to ensure that the developer was actually fulfilling their commitment and then I came to the city council and one of the most powerful things that we have in the council is the budget and I'm proud to say that I was able to allocate 4.5 million dollars to this project but we're not done as you can see to the left we have an empty lot Mr. Commissioner we need to close on phase two of this project and I'm going to hold you accountable to that right yes we do and I just want to end by this you know and Mr. May is great seeing you again here in Hunts Point a year ago Eric Adams was campaigning and he was walking around in the South Bronx with me and we went and we visited the barge and then we came and we visited this location and I'm going to allow him to say his story of this location but we were standing here and here you are Mr. Mayor a year later and we're doing the ribbon cutting on this project and we are one jail down and we're another jail that we need to close in Hunts Point but that thank you very much thank you very much council member it's now a great pleasure to introduce a key partner for us in the legislature assembly member Amanda Septima I'm going to be brief because so many wonderful things have already been said but I do want to formally say on the record the deputy mayor said we're not allowed to have favorite projects in government this is absolutely my favorite project hands down you're hurting here first you know I want to say thank you to Victor Boyd Lawson who is the lead architect on this project who's there's so many people whose beauty and thoughts have gone into this project thank you both so much for your work because it's community inspiration and community vision but the physical beauty of the space is is really something to marvel at and it wouldn't happen without you and Victor and I were talking earlier and I was saying that I think the excitement of ribbon cuttings for me is that they signal so much promise and there's so much sort of electricity in the air of what's to come and this one feels especially special for me because I grew up on that street here and every day I would come home and on my way home see spot for it and knew what it meant right and I think that's why it's something so special for people like myself or Ralph for the borough president's plural being from the Bronx and having that be a very real part of your story I think the deputy mayor was right this is emotional this is personal and the reaction is visceral the emotion that you feel walking up here and knowing that this transformation is taking place that promise is really exciting but I think the most exciting part of it is seeing the city step up and work to bring this to fruition the promise that communities like Hunts Point all over the city have an ally in city government that's going to make sure that these opportunities not only are realized but that their community developed community led community supported and prioritized when we're thinking about the future of them so thank you to the EDC thank you to councilman Salamanca who everyone has said that this wouldn't come to fruition without him but it still is understated the importance of your role in this deeply grateful to you as a partner in government and as someone who loves Hunts Point and I'm grateful to all of you for braving this weather and being here and I'm excited to see you for the next phase ribbon cutting because I know we'll get it in the pipeline thank you all thank you very much so our cleanup hitter is ready to step up to the plate committed to bringing home dynamic projects around housing and jobs and economic development not just here but across the entire city it's great pleasure to introduce the mayor of New York City Eric Adams thank you thank you so much and you know there just in my brevity there's just a level of subtext to what is happening here it's good to see my my brother brother brother Ruben Diaz Jr that's here with us but it is a continuation it's a continuation and when you think about the fact that Adelphal Carrion is now in charge of HBD former Bronxville president of when you hear councilman Salamanca talks about how he did this in the community board then went on to the city council and now we feel that see that this first phase is done and we have another phase to do when you come in as a mayor and a team and your mindset is you must be the starter of something instead of the finisher of something that is what destroyed the real progress in our city I'm not here to reinvent the wheel I'm here to make sure that the wheel that has already been put in place it continues to roll to the completion of the project we will get this done we will get this done and it doesn't matter uh who name is on the placard that's put up on who who has accomplished it it's about getting these great projects done and there's nothing could be more significant that I was housed here as a juvenile and spot fit and now we're building housing to prevent people from being housed in a juvenile correctional facility that is amazing and that is great about this city my administration is going to take the juvenile facility that I was a juvenile offender in and now I'm returning as the mayor to build a place to house people in that's what we're talking about that's what we're talking about and so we know that this community has been denied for so long so long you have been the backdrop of a photo op you have not received the support you deserve Ruben was fighting so hard and he was moving us to the pathway and COVID hit and decimated this community all the work you did brother of moving us in the right direction year after year really changing the symbol of the Bronx and he was hit hard with COVID now you have a new bar president of Vanessa Gibson who's solid who's want to continue that continue that I know your work I know what you were doing I know the electors that are here that are so focused your stories are clear you can you don't come from a textbook you come from the block you know that what this represented and what it was that's the beauty of this group of electors from the Bronx they all came here when I hear you talk about your dad in hunts point and how he used to come to work every day these are real stories and real lives these are not people who made it and then fled it these are people who made it and stayed to say we're going to make a better future for those who are coming up after us I'm really proud to be able to complete this project this is not only your favorite project this is going to be my favorite project because it's all about the possibilities and opportunities so thank you thank you all I look forward we got our team here we're going to get it done thank you that's real