PUBLISHED BY MOSHOLU PRESERVATION CORPORATION

Senior Housing to Rise at Mount St. Ursula

By ALEX KRATZ

A fledgling senior housing project on the campus of the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in Bedford Park recently received a $10 million boost from the federal government, which will fund a third of the proposed 240-unit development, the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation said.

The Housing Corporation has been working with Mount St. Ursula for the past few years to create senior housing on the sprawling and under-utilized Ursuline campus, which includes a Catholic all-girls high school and a convent.

In November, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocated $10.3 million in federal funds from its Section 202 program to the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation (FBHC) to construct 83 units of low-income senior housing at Mount St. Ursula.

“This project really fits in with the mission at Mount St. Ursula,” said John Reilly, executive director of FBHC.

In a statement, officials at Mount St. Ursula said the school and FBHC are “committed to the neighborhood residents of Bedford Park, sharing a vision in planning this project.”

The project will not infringe on the school mission, officials said. “The Academy of Mount St. Ursula will continue to provide its young women the important foundation of spiritual values and excellent academic background, preparing them to be tomorrow’s leaders,” the statement said.

The statement also said that because construction will not be completed for three to five years, the nuns living at St. Mary’s Hall will be relocated to other housing in early January 2007. The Ursulines will either move to a residence in New Rochelle or a community in Hastings-on-Hudson. They will have the opportunity to move back once the building is completed.

New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and Housing Development Corporation (HDC) will provide most of the additional funding, while FBHC will be looking to private sources for the rest, Reilly said.

The development will incorporate and renovate the existing structure of St. Mary’s Hall, which is located on the southern, 198th Street side of the Ursuline campus. The plan is to renovate the hall and surround it with three buildings. The buildings will be set off from the street, surrounded by landscaping and built with green, or environmentally-friendly, designs, Reilly said.

Though the development has not reached the design stage and there is no construction timetable in place yet, Reilly said the project will feature a wellness program as well as educational and recreational opportunities with an on-site service coordinator.

While HUD’s Section 202 program will fund the 83 units of low-income housing, the rest of the units will be for mixed-income residents, to provide a “wider band” of economic choices for seniors, Reilly said.

Reilly, a longtime northwest Bronx housing advocate, said Mount St. Ursula will not only receive lease money from the development, but the project will also “strengthen its presence in the community.”

The proposed complex will be called Serviam Gardens. Serviam is the Latin word for “I will serve,” which is one of the primary mottos of the Ursuline nuns.

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