Melrose Commons LEED for Neighborhood Development Pilot program. Melrose Commons is a New York City Urban Renewal Area first recognized in 1994 due to the efforts of local community group Nos Quedamos/We Stay. After decades of neglect, arson, and abandonment, the remaining mostly Latino community organized together to reject the city's urban renewal plan which called for the razing of the neighborhood and relocation of thousands of residents. Over 15 years of collaboration, the neighborhood now includes thousands of new and renovated affordable and market rate housing units, both rentals and ownership, using contextual materials and scale while providing clean, environmentally sound housing and retail space. The LEED-ND proposal serves to recognize these efforts to reduce asthma and illness rates in the neighborhood while improving a blighted but spirited area. The project seeks LEED Gold and is currently under review by USGBC.
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