Co-op City

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The Co-op City is on the Hutchinson River

The Co-op City ( Cooperative City ) is the largest housing cooperative building complex in the world. It is located in Baychester at the intersection of Interstate 95 and the Hutchinson River Parkway in New York district of the Bronx in the northeast of New York City .

Co-op City is on the Bronx Community Board 10 and would be the tenth largest city in New York State if it were a separate city. Pelham , Pelham Bay Park , Orchard Beach and City Island are all in the vicinity . The zip code is 10475.

The Co-op City

The Co-op City as seen from the east - with the Hutchinson River in the foreground.
Aerial view of Harry S. Truman High School (X455) campus with surrounding Co-Op City in the Bronx

When traveling north to New York City on Interstate 95, Co-op City emerges as the first example of New York's urbanity. It extends to almost 130 hectares, of which only about 20% have been built on, which creates a lot of green spaces. The residential high-rises were built in the building types "Triple Core", "Chevron" and "Tower". They rise between 24 and 33 floors. In addition, there are 236 three-story townhouses, each with a garden apartment and a duplex apartment with three bedrooms above.

The Co-op City is divided into five areas: one through four are connected, the fifth is separated from the other four by the Hutchinson River Parkway. Each street in an area has a letter as a name. All streets in the first area begin with the letter “D”, in the second with “C”, in the third with “A”, in the fourth with “B” and in the fifth with “E”.

This "city within the city" has eight parking garages , three shopping centers , its own police department, an "education park" of over ten hectares with a high school (Harry S. Truman High School), which has a planetarium , a power station , and a four-story generator for air conditioning and a fire station. In addition, the Co-op City has two middle schools , three primary schools, six day nurseries, over 40 offices, including doctors and lawyers, at least 15 religious buildings, as well as four basketball courts and five baseball fields . In the adjacent Bay Plaza Shopping Center there is a multiplex cinema theater with 13 screens, shops and a supermarket.

The residential buildings were built on a former landfill. The area is still surrounded by the original marshland . The foundations of the buildings are on 50,000 piles, which are based on the rock . However, the land around the buildings of Co-op City settles and sinks by about 2.5 cm annually, which leads to cracks in sidewalks and building entrances.

Administration of Co-op City

RiverBay Corporation is responsible for the buildings. It employs over 1,000 people in 32 departments for the operation and administration of Co-op City. The complex has its own security department ( Co-op City Department of Public Safety ) with more than 100 sworn employees. This department also monitors the premises in the Public Safety Command Center with security cameras.

RiverBay Corporation has a 15-person honorary board that is elected by residents as the complex is a housing association.

There are two weekly newspapers for residents: Co-op City Times (the RiverBay newspaper) and City News.

history

In 1973, the Co-op City apartments were on the edge of a landfill that was already overloaded.

Recreation area

Originally the area of ​​the Co-op City was mostly marshland . In the 1950s, most of this flat area was still being used for recreation - e.g. B. meetings of model airplane builders took place here. Back then you could go to the Hutchinson River and walk through the reed grass on paths and swim in the river. The area south of the Hutchinson River Parkway (Area 5 of Co-op City) was still untouched marshland until Co-op City was established there. Boats and canoes could be borrowed here at the mouth of the Hutchinson River in the 1950s. It was also home to Gus's Barge - a well-known restaurant and nightclub with boat rentals that played jazz bands and other musicians. The operators sold Gus's Barge in the early 1960s.

Landfill and amusement park

Finally, since the area was also used as a landfill, local residents of the area of the Hutchinson River Parkway "The Dump" called the land north ( The landfill ). From 1960 to 1964, the Freedomland USA amusement park was operated on an 83- hectare sub-area of ​​what would later become Co-op City , until it had to close.

Start of construction in 1966

Construction of the Co-op City began in May 1966. The first residents moved in in December 1968. Construction was completed in 1973. The 15,372 residential units in 35 high-rise buildings and seven groups of townhouses make Co-op City the largest residential project in the United States .

The project was sponsored and built by the United Housing Foundation - an organization founded in 1951 by Abraham Kazan and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America . The design comes from the architect Herman Jessor .

Co-op City was funded with a loan from New York State's Housing Finance Agency (HFA).

Rental strike

Mario Cuomo (2007)

Mismanagement, poor building quality and corruption have repeatedly led to scandals in the history of Co-op City. So could z. B. the 1975 loan can no longer be serviced. As a result, New York State took over management of the complex and faced residents with a 25 percent increase in monthly maintenance costs. This led to a rental strike. New York State threatened to close Co-op City and vacate the apartments, which would have meant the loss of the cooperative's shares for those affected. But the residents of the complex went on strike for 13 months until the President of the Bronx District ( Robert Abrams ) and the Secretary of State of New York ( Mario Cuomo ) were called as arbitrators to mediate between the two parties. Eventually, the cooperative was released from debt of $ 20 million. At the same time, the cooperative should also take over the administration and management of the complex and set the fees itself. This marked the end of the longest and largest tenants' strike in United States history.

To this day, the complex still owes the HFA. In 2004, due to the high costs of emergency repairs, the rates could no longer be met. Under certain conditions, the New York Community Bank helped the RiverBay Corporation with a bridging loan.

Renovations in the 2000s

Looking across the Hutchinson River to the Co-op City.

In the first decade of the new millennium, the entire complex was renovated for $ 240 million. This process is known as the “renaissance” of Co-op City. Many of these measures made the complex more ecological. The power plant produces less exhaust gases, the buildings require less energy and recycling efforts have increased. For this purpose, Co-op City received a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) in the amount of US $ 5.2 million as part of the NY Energy $ mart Assisted Multifamily Program.

Pipes and compactors were replaced, garages and roofs were renovated, the power plant was improved, facade and terrace repairs were carried out, converted to energy-efficient lighting and water-saving technologies, and 130,000 windows, 4,000 patio doors and all 179 elevators were replaced.

In 2007 the power plant was renewed and expanded. It was now not only able to distribute the incoming electricity to the households, but was expanded by a 40-megawatt strong combined heat, power and cooling system , in which the turbines can be operated with oil, gas or steam in order to generate their own energy. For this purpose, US $ 90 million was invested. These costs are expected to be amortized as conservative estimates suggest that the new power plant will save $ 18 million annually in energy costs. If excess energy is produced, this electricity can be fed into the general electricity grid and sold.

In 2003 a parking garage partially collapsed. It was then found that five of the eight parking garages are no longer safe, which is why they had to be closed for extensive repairs. The remaining three parking garages could remain partially open during the renovation work. To cope with the parking space shortage, New York City allowed parking in the complex. For this purpose, green corridors were paved in order to create additional parking spaces. In addition, an agreement was made with the nearby shopping center that parking spaces could also be used there. In January 2008, all parking garages were open again for the first time after 4.5 years of renovation work. The green corridors were then restored.

Who should pay for these renovations became the subject of dispute between RiverBay and New York State. Co-op City was developed under New York State's Mitchell-Lama Housing Program , which subsidizes affordable housing. RiverBay has now demanded that the state help with these costs, as the severe damage to the infrastructure is coming from the originally poor quality of construction of the Co-op City, which arose under the supervision of the state. The state, however, blamed RiverBay for the costs because they did not maintain the buildings adequately. Finally the argument ended with a settlement. The state provided the funds for the renovations and RiverBay received $ 480 million from the New York Community Bank in 2004 to service the loans and remaining expenses.

Residents

View in west direction over the Hutchinson River to the Co-op City.

Around 55,000 people live in Co-op City. Of these, 55% are African American , 25% Hispanic, and 20% are white . More than 8,300 residents are over 60 for whom a Senior Services Program has been developed to help residents with age-related disabilities. Many of these senior citizens moved to the complex during their working lives and stayed here after they retired.

In the early years, Co-op City was also home to many Jews , Italians, and Irish who moved here from other parts of the Bronx (e.g. the Grand Concourse ). In addition, African Americans moved in here. When the first residents moved out as they got older, people who matched the ethnic makeup of the Bronx moved in, so that African-Americans and Hispanics made up the majority of the residents.

After the fall of the Soviet Union , many immigrants from Eastern Europe moved here in the 1990s - especially from Russia and Albania .

reachability

Co-op City is only served by bus routes. The local bus lines of the New York City Transit Authority Bx5, Bx12, Bx26, Bx28, Bx29 and Bx30 as well as the lines of the New York City Transit Buses (both Metropolitan Transportation Authority ) Bx23, Q50 and BxM7 connect Co-op City with the surrounding subway lines and with the outskirts (e.g .: City Island ). The BxM7 line is an express route to / from Manhattan that runs along Madison Avenue . The construction of a subway line directly into the Co-op City was already being planned, but was discontinued due to financial problems.

Pop Culture

  • On the album factory showroom in the band They Might Be Giants is a cover song called place " New York City " (originally by the Canadian band Cub ). Thereby changing They Might Be Giants song lyrics and exchanged " Alphabet City " against "Co-op City" .
  • Robert Klein praises the Bronx as a beautiful place and explicitly mentions Co-op City in the song "The Traveling Song" .
  • The hip-hop song "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow" by Nice & Smooth on the album Ain't a Damn Thing Changed (1991) contains the following line: "I go to Bay Plaza and catch a flick" (German: "Ich geh 'Go to Bay Plaza and watch a movie ” ) - Bay Plaza is a large shopping center near Co-op City with a large cinema complex.
  • In the dark fantasy saga The Dark Tower by Stephen King , the fictional character Eddie Dean comes from Co-op City. When it first appeared in Volume Two, titled Three , Co-op City was said to be in the Bronx, while later volumes "incorrectly" indicated Brooklyn as the neighborhood in which Co-op City was located. A key element of this series of novels is the concept of alternating realities, so that in some of these realities there is Co-op City in Brooklyn.
  • In the seventh season episode "Gone" of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , investigators lead the search for the body of a murdered witness to the river in Co-op City.
  • The novel Blood Brothers by Richard Price is in a fictitious address in Co-op City. Price Roman Freedomland's title refers to the theme park that was once located on the Co-op City site before the complex was built.
  • The opening credits of the film Finding Forrester show scenes in and around Co-op City.
  • At the end of the film The Seven-Ups you can see the surroundings of area five of the Co-op City.
  • One episode of Queer Eye has a short section in Co-op City. You can see the special signs for the complex.
  • The future of Co-op City and its demise after a fictional disappearance of mankind is shown in episode 5 of the 2nd season of the documentary fiction series Future Without People (“Collapse Risk”, USA 2010).

Well-known residents

Requirements for applying as a resident

View from the corner of Asch Loop and Co-op City Boulevard

People who want to live in Co-op City must meet the following requirements (as of November 2007):

  • The applicant must not be a convicted criminal.
  • Credit scoring - at least 650 for a one bedroom apartment and 700 for a two bedroom apartment.
  • The applicant may not receive grants under Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937 .
  • The applicant may not have another primary residence.
  • During the application process, the applicant will be visited at home.

Depending on the number of rooms and residents, the cooperative shares amount to:

  • One bedroom apartments: US $ 13,500 - US $ 18,000
  • Two bedroom apartments: $ 20,250 - $ 22,500
  • Three Bedroom Homes: $ 27,000- $ 29,250

Income limits:

  • One bedroom apartments: $ 23,160 (min) - $ 75,768 (max)
  • Two bedroom apartments: $ 34,760 (min) - $ 108,240 (max)
  • Three bedroom apartments: $ 46,320 (min) - $ 140,760 (max)

The lower income thresholds are set lower for retirees: between US $ 20,844 and US $ 45,180.

Monthly charges:

  • One bedroom apartments: $ 579- $ 772
  • Two bedroom apartments: US $ 869-965
  • Three Bedroom Homes: $ 1158- $ 1,255

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Urban Mass: A Look at Co-op City" , The Cooperator . Accessed December 2006.
  2. ↑ Cheslow, J .: " If You're Thinking of Living In / Co-op City, " The New York Times , November 20, 1994.
  3. ^ Puza, D, and Breslin, R: "Saving a Sinking City", Civil Engineering — ASCE, Vol. 67, No. 2, February 1997, pp. 48-51
  4. ↑ Amusement Park Opens in Bronx; Tells US History . In: The Milwaukee Journal , June 20, 1960, p. 16. 
  5. ↑ 25,000 Tons of Cooling for Complex . In: Beaver County Times , Dec. 12, 1967, pp. B-7. 
  6. ↑ Freedomland Aides Get Paychecks Back . In: The New York Times , September 9, 1964. 
  7. ↑ Edith Evans Asbury: "Ground Broken for Bronx Co-ops" . In: The New York Times , May 15, 1966, p. 70. 
  8. ↑ News Briefs . In: The Sumter Daily Item , Nov. 25, 1968, p. 7A. 
  9. ^ A Walk Through the Bronx . Retrieved June 18, 2007: “Co-op City is a middle income cooperative located in the northeastern corner of the Bronx and is it the largest single residential development in the United States. Completed in 1971, it consists of 15,372 residential units, in thirty-five high-rise buildings and seven clusters of townhouses. "
  10. ↑ "Bronx Odyssey: From Rebel to Executive to Felon" , The New York Times , October 10, 2006. Retrieved on October 10 of 2006.
  11. ^ "Residential Real Estate; Co-op City Hires Outside Managers ” ,“ The New York Times ”. Retrieved September 15, 2004: "Many of the needed repairs stem from construction-related defects, and Co-op City residents and state officials have been arguing for years over who should pay for them."
  12. ^ "Residential Real Estate; Co-op City Hires Outside Managers ” “ The New York Times ”. Retrieved November 5, 1999
  13. ↑ "Haven for Workers in Bronx Evolves for Their Retirement"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. "The New York Times". Retrieved August 5, 2002@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / query.nytimes.com  
  14. ^ "Co-op City Sets New Goal: Attract More Whites" "The New York Times". Retrieved November 30, 1987
  15. ↑ "Urban Mass: A Look at Co-op City" . "The Cooperator: The Co-op & Condo Monthly". Accessed December 2006
  16. ↑ Bronx bus route map, accessed May 2, 2016
  17. ^ The New York Transit Authority in the 1970s, Retrieved May 2, 2016
  18. ^ The New York Transit Authority in the 1980s, Retrieved May 2, 2016
  19. ↑ The Michael J. Agovino Interview at www.zulkey.com . Retrieved September 19, 2008
  20. ↑ Case File: David Berkowitz ( Memento January 18, 2000 in the Internet Archive ), accessed June 17, 2009
  21. ↑ a b On Da Come Up with Clap Cognac on HipHopRuckus.com , February 24, 2009. Retrieved June 13, 2009
  22. ↑ Interview with Christopher Scott Cherot on The New Times Holler , April 7, 2008. Retrieved June 13, 2009
  23. ↑ Stanley, Alessandra: "Out of Cell (and Sickbed), Biaggi Tries Anew" , The New York Times , September 12, 1992. Accessed October 28, 2007 - "Mr. Engel, 45, a former teacher and State Assemblyman who grew up in Co-op City, where he still lives, is so subdued and unflamboyant that on Capitol Hill, where he serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee, he is sometimes mistaken for a Congressional aide. "
  24. ↑ Coffey, Wayne: "Former Met Stanley Jefferson struggles to cope with horror of life as 9.11 cop" , New York Daily News , March 9, 2007. Retrieved on June 18 of 2007.
  25. ↑ Akashic Books: Miles Marshall Lewis ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , at www.akashicbooks.com  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.akashicbooks.com
  26. ↑ Vanderbilt, Tom: - "CITY LORE Stagecoach Wreck injures 10 in Bronx" , The New York Times : "After a few years, the world's large largest theme park, and New York's last, September 1, 2002. Retrieved on 11 October 2007 , gave way to the world's largest housing development, Co-op City. Mr. Price, who joined the electrical workers' union, helped build it ... A year later, Mr. Price got an apartment in Co-op City: I wound up living in Freedomland, so to speak. "
  27. ^ New York City Council: Larry Seabrook . Council.nyc.gov. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  28. ↑ Sonia Sotomayor: At Last a Bronx Candidate! on Concurring Opinions , May 2009, accessed June 17, 2009.
  29. ↑ a b c d e f 2009 Suggested Application effective January 2010 ( Memento of July 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), RiverBay Corporation.

Web links

Coordinates: 40 ° 52 ′ 30.8 "  N , 73 ° 49 ′ 41.8"  W.