Procida breaks ground on Bronx housing for homeless

    Procida Construction Corporation has broken ground on two eight-story apartment houses on Walton Avenue under the New York State Housing Finance Agency's "Permanent Housing for the Homeless" program.
    When completed in August 1994, the $12.7 million development will contain 85 units and a 10,000 square foot community center, says Billy Procida, co-president of the company.
    "We're delighted to be building the Walton Avenue apartments," said Procida. "We received the assignment because we had successfully completed four similar projects for the State of New York, and we're pleased to be able to providing yet more aesthetically pleasing and well designed housing for New Yorkers who desperately need affordable housing."
    The project, located at 2242 Walton Avenue and 2270 Walton Avenue, contains an indoor/outdoor recreation area, a laundry, elevators, and a day care center. Half of the occupants will be formerly homeless people who had been living in shelters, while the other half will be low-income residents moving out of less attractive housing.
    Fordham Bedford Housing Group is the joint venture partner with Procida. The architect is Wank, Adams, Slavin, Associates.