Morrisania Air Rights is New York City Housing Authority

New York City Housing Authority

The New York City Housing Authority provides public housing for low- and moderate-income residents throughout the five boroughs of New York City. NYCHA also administers a citywide Section 8 Leased Housing Program in rental apartments...

 (NYCHA) public housing project consisting of three buildings, 19, 23, and 29-stories tall. There are 843 apartments housing some 1,952 residents. It was designed by the architectural firm, The Eggers Partnership

Eggers & Higgins

Eggers & Higgins was a New York architectural firm partnered by Otto Reinhold Eggers and Daniel Paul Higgins . The architects were responsible for the construction phase of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial beginning in 1939, two years after the death of its original architect, John Russell Pope,...

 also known as Eggers & Higgins. The projects were completed in 1980 over Metro-North Railroad

Metro-North Railroad

The Metro-North Commuter Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, or, more commonly, Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service that is run and managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , an authority of New York State. It is the busiest commuter railroad in the United...

 tracks, taking advantage of the air rights

Air rights

Air rights are a type of development right in real estate, referring to the empty space above a property. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building gives one the right to use and develop the air rights....

 above the tracks. This method of construction allowed a new housing project to be built without tearing down any buildings or displacing any residents. This saved on costs considerably and may be one of the reasons why NYCHA was able to build such a large project during a period when few public housing units were built, even in New York City. The planning for the project began in 1971, but construction did not begin until the late 70s. The project used a method of construction developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

that relies on steel trusses rather than closely spaced steel columns. This allowed the railroad to remain in operation during construction.