Massive blue city migrant shelter opens despite residents furious opposition
A massive 2,200 male-only migrant shelter has opened in the Bronx despite residents venting their opposition to the move and as the city announces the closures of other migrant shelters throughout New York City, including the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan.
The new facility, a 275,000-square-foot former warehouse, began accepting migrants on Saturday, a spokesperson for the mayor's office told Fox News Digital.
The opening of the facility, located at 825 E. 141st St., and the prospect of such a large influx of migrant men being housed in the community sparked furious scenes at a Bronx community board meeting last month where residents also said that they were never consulted on the decision.
"I have young women who come to me to study. I have never been afraid in the South Bronx, I am now terrified," Judy Kudlow, an artist who said she operates an art school directly across from the building said. "I'm terrified for me, for my students. I will have to move… You have made a terrible mistake."
Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, a Democrat, also blasted the city for greenlighting the project before the community could discuss it. She wanted the site repurposed into a manufacturing facility to create more than 2,000 jobs.
One community board member said that residents felt like their community was being treated as "a dumping ground" for migrants, as did Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres.
Several protests have also taken place outside the facility in last-ditch attempts to prevent it from opening, but they appear to have been in vain. Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor's office for confirmation of the shelter's opening but did not receive a response prior to publication.
Many of the migrants will be transferred to the Bronx shelter from the sprawling migrant tent shelter on Randalls Island, according to the New York Post, citing city records.
The opening of the Bronx shelter comes as Adams' office said Monday that there are currently fewer than 45,000 migrants in the city's care, down from a high of 69,000 in January 2024. New York City taxpayers have forked out billions of dollars to pay for housing for more than 232,000 who have arrived in New York City seeking city services since the spring of 2022.
Adams also announced on Monday that the massive Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter in Manhattan will shut down in the next few months, "saving taxpayers millions of dollars."
A New York Post source told the outlet that the closure is expected to happen by June.
The Roosevelt Hotel, which has around 1,000 rooms, has processed more than 173,000 migrants since its opening in May 2023 and has become a focal point of the city's migrant crisis over the last two years, since it was the first stop for many border crossers.
"Thanks to the sound policy decisions of our team, we are able to announce the closure of this site and help even more asylum seekers take the next steps in their journeys as they envision an even brighter future, while simultaneously saving taxpayers millions of dollars," Adams said.
Meanwhile, the Bronx facility was renovated in 2017 and is currently owned by SoBro Local Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to "enhance the quality of life in the South Bronx by strengthening businesses and creating and implementing innovative economic, housing, educational, and career development programs for youth and adults."
The non-profit's website states that it manages more than 450 affordable and special-needs housing units in the Bronx and Harlem.
Diana Ayala, a Democratic councilwoman who represents parts of the Bronx and Manhattan, including where the shelter is set to open, said at last month's community board meeting that she recommended the new Bruckner Boulevard site, as well as other locations in the Bronx.
She said the migrants have a right to shelter and the city is legally obligated to house the migrants.
"They can't leave them out on the street, they can't let them sleep on the street, unless they want to. They have to put them somewhere," said Ayala, who praised the Adams administration's handling of the crisis.
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