The L+M team seeks out innovative ways to incorporate resiliency and efficiency measures into our projects, from the largest Passive House project in the country to NYC’s first net-zero community. We aim to identify best practices that reduce energy usage and operating costs while lessening our impact on the environment.
This Earth Day, we are spotlighting two community partners who are committed to helping us do just that with a boots-on-the-ground approach. We’ve teamed up with these organizations at our BronxPoint and Cooper Gardens properties to bring energy‑saving resources and programs directly to residents.
SolarOne is a not-for-profit organization that fosters sustainable practices and environmental equity across New York City through innovative programs and education. In 2025, SolarOne team members visited Bronx Point and Cooper Gardens to help residents enroll in a community solar program, which reduces their electric bill by 10 – 20 percent! After enrolling, the residents’ in-unit electrical usage will be supplied by a solar farm located in upstate New York.
Logical Buildings uses its award-winning climate technology to help owners and managers of apartment complexes and commercial spaces reduce their energy costs. At Bronx Point and Cooper Gardens, representatives from Logical Buildings helped residents enroll in the GridRewards™ program, a free app that that pays users to reduce electricity usage during peak demand. Users can earn cash rewards totaling up to 20 percent of their annual bill by turning off ACs, lights, and delaying appliance use during peak demand periods.
These partnerships reflect L+M’s ongoing commitment to energy efficiency, sustainability, and resident engagement, combining innovative technology with trusted community outreach to create meaningful, everyday impact.
Thank you to our colleagues, partners, and residents for an amazing year and for helping us to continue our mission to build stronger communities for our 40th year in business! Watch our 2024 end-of-year video to see our company highlights and accomplishments throughout the year.
We wish everyone a cheerful holiday season and a prosperous new year!
L+M recently formalized its company values, and we asked our staff to share some of their stories that they feel exemplify our company values. This submission, third in a series of six, came from Elaine Braithwaite on our Development team, and we think it’s an excellent example of one of our key values: Innovation.
“High quality affordable housing is just one component of helping people live healthier and happier lives. Over the last few years we have been looking at innovative ways to integrate the other pieces of the puzzle, including accessible healthcare, healthy and affordable food, childcare, and access to greenspace. For example, 20% of high-need Medicaid recipients use up to 75% of all Medicaid spending, many of whom end up staying overnight at hospitals because they are homeless. Providing these high need users with a place to live will hopefully decrease pressure on the Medicaid system.
To that point, we recently completed a project in the Bronx which was a partnership with St. Barnabas Hospital (SBH). The project provides 314 units of affordable housing, including 50 units of supportive housing for high-need Medicaid users through the State’s Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) program, as well as 45 units of supportive housing for formerly homeless households. The project also includes a new 50,000 SF wellness center for SBH, a 10,000 SF daycare, community-serving retail spaces, and an office for Bronxworks, a non-profit which is providing services to the project’s supportive housing units. In addition, SBH is also operating a fitness center and teaching kitchen in the project so that hospital staff can “prescribe” healthy meals and exercise to patients as well as offer low-cost gym memberships to the community at large. Also, Project Eats, a non-profit dedicated to creating small-plot, high-yield farms to grow and distribute fresh foods locally, is operating a rooftop farm at this project where they are growing produce and selling it at affordable prices to residents and hospital staff. There’s even an apiary!
Project EATS rooftop garden
The apiary where thousands of bees live and honey is harvested
Next up, we are looking to integrate health and wellness in another project, located in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. Phase 1 will be completed at the end of the year and will include 348 affordable apartments, ground floor retail and community facility space. We are currently exploring a partnership with a healthy and affordable café that provides workforce development opportunities to community members, and also storefront space for Project Eats to create an aquaponic farm.
The second phase of the project, which is currently in design, will include 285 affordable apartments across three buildings. Our team is exploring a partnership with the Brownsville Multi Service Family Health Center to create a federally qualified health center, where we would leverage low income housing tax credits to develop a new 50,000 SF community-focused health center.
Projects like these bring health and wellness directly to residents where they live, and have the potential to be so transformative in their communities. It is incredibly exciting to see these innovative ideas come to life.”