News

Brooklyn, NY – July 13, 2010 -- Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) has taken the first step in creating Bedford Stuyvesant’s sustainable future, with the unveiling of the newly renovated and rehabilitated 300 Putnam Avenue -- aka Joshua Court -- and its new solar-panel enhancements, it was announced by Rhonda A. Lewis, BSDC President & Chief Executive Officer, at a press conference and public reception during the grand opening of the six-story/52-unit residence, Tuesday, July 13, 2010 in Brooklyn, New York.

Bridge Street brings a dying building back to life

“Last summer, for the first time in 15 years, we finally got a permit to have our block party,” says Michelle Agins, co-president of the Putnam Avenue Block Association. The reason homeowners couldn’t agree to hold a block party sooner, she says, was fear of violent crime at 300 Putnam Avenue, a distressed, Section 8 property in the middle of the block. This six-story, 52-unit, partially occupied apartment complex was abandoned by its owner in 2005.

Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) and Brooklyn Botanic Garden are beautifying our community one block at a time. On March 18th, we gathered leaders of block tenant merchants in Bedford-Stuyvesant for a “Green Theme Workshop”.  With a presentation by Karla Osorio of Greenbridge, the community environmental horticulture program of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the event focused on “How to Make Brooklyn Beautiful”, and included caring for trees, plants and shrubs in our neighborhood.

April 18th was “Empowerment Sunday” for 50 congregations throughout our community who joined Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) and our partners in the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant (CIBS) to combat foreclosure. The 50 congregations participated in “Empowerment Sunday” to combat this crisis and lead the way to financial restoration and wealth building.

On January 22nd, Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) and other partnering members of the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant (CIBS) hosted over 50 clergy members from across Central Brooklyn to preserve individual and community assets through homeownership.

CIBS hosted the Clergy Breakfast at Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation to discuss the foreclosure crisis as the first in a series of topics and to start a partnership with the over 500 churches in Central Brooklyn.

Rhonda Lewis, President of Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC), was interviewed on WBGO Journal - Radio 88.3 FM. She highlighted the work of BSDC and the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford- Stuyvesant and spoke to the recent accomplishments the group has made in bu...siness development and foreclosure prevention. The spot will air TONIGHT, Friday 1/8/2010 at 7:30pm. It's a 12 minutes spot.... You can also catch the interview on live web stream: http://www.wbgo.org/listennow/

While community groups wait for the city to move on stalled, recession-era construction projects, some are taking the housing crisis into their own hands.

In Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood with unusually high foreclosure rates, before the recession dried up bank and construction loans the Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) had plans for an affordable housing coop development at 790 Lafayette Avenue off Throop Avenue.

Reprinted from Our Time Press:

The Stitch in Time club at the Bridge Street Development Corporation's Quincy Senior Residence gave birth to an innovative idea to help the city, and infused special meaning for Mother's Day, last month.

It was a proud day in the history of Bedford Stuyvesant and the Borough of Brooklyn as the newly restored and renovated 575 Hancock Street opened its doors, Monday, December 15, after a long journey from vision to living legacy. The building was dedicated to the late Reverend William Paul Foley, Sr., the 58th pastor of Bridge Street African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church (AWME).