Architects unveil first grandparent development.

Goshow Architects announced the completion of the PSS GrandParent Family Apartments housing development in the Morrissania neighborhood of the South Bronx, New York.

A 6-story building that contains 51 units (41 two-bedroom and 10 three-bedroom apartments) provides affordable apartments to a growing segment of the population: low-income grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.

The first residential development in New York City to address the housing and service needs of grandparent-led households, the $10.6 million PSS GrandParent Family Apartments will be occupied in March 2005.

"As architects, we are committed to developing creative design solutions for our clients regardless of project type. However, our role as architects becomes even more gratifying when we design socially groundbreaking projects such as the PSS GrandParent Family Apartments," said Eric Goshow, Founding Partner of Goshow Architects.

Although long term maintenance and security issues were important to the design of the building, Goshow Architects' chief goal was to design a building that embraced the community and its residents unlike the huge, fortress-like buildings commonly associated with public housing projects. Subsequently, Goshow Architects designed the PSS GrandParent Family Apartments as a series of several smaller buildings appropriate to the scale of the surrounding neighborhood.

The massing of the facade is broken down by changing the color and profile of the brick facade. In addition, windows at the ground level of the building provide a feeling of transparency and connection between the apartments and the surrounding community.

In addition to 5,079 s/f of retail space on the first floor, the PSS Grandparent Family Apartments contain a variety of special spaces including: a community center, counseling offices, a child care facility, a "smart" resource center and library, food service facilities, an outdoor recreation area, and a roof garden to be planted this spring. Support services offered to residents include case management, parenting workshops, childhood development, support groups, daycare, after-school education and tutoring. All of the units have fully equipped kitchens, are handicapped-accessible and equipped with emergency buzzer and intercom systems in the bathrooms and master bedrooms.

The GrandParent Family Apartments is unique for its population but also for the creative public-private partnership that made the project possible. The PSS GrandParent Family Apartments is sponsored by PSS and was developed by West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc. The New York City Housing Authority will provide rental subsidies for all housing units in order to make them affordable to families with incomes up to 50 percent of the area median income. Prospective tenants will be drawn from a waiting list of nearly 500 grandparent-led households that are seeking housing in the Bronx.

According to the U.S. Census 2000, more than six million children across the country are living in households maintained by grandparents or other relatives.