South Bronx Unite’s HEArts Center: A Community Builds Its Own

For more than a decade, the building at 349 East 140th Street in Mott Haven sat empty. It had been the Lincoln Recovery Center — a clinic with a remarkable history, first as a neighborhood health facility, then as the site of a community-driven drug rehabilitation program pioneered by the Young Lords and Black Panthers in the 1970s that used acupuncture as an alternative to methadone. The city shut the building down in 2013. For years after, it was just a vacant, deteriorating structure in one of the South Bronx’s most under-resourced neighborhoods.

What happens next is a story about what community organizing looks like when it actually works.

Ten Years to Get Here

In 2013, South Bronx Unite — a community-based organization focused on the social, environmental, and economic future of Mott Haven and Port Morris — began engaging residents about the building’s potential. By 2015, they helped form the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards as a Community Land Trust to work toward acquiring and stewarding the space. In 2022, New York City released a Request for Proposals to redevelop the building. In fall 2023, the HEArts Center proposal was selected as the winner.

Renovation is now underway. The project timeline calls for remediation and construction through 2025, with the building expected to be completed by 2027, when Health, Education, and Arts programming will begin.

What HEArts Will Be

The HEArts Center — the name stands for Health, Education, and Arts — will transform the 22,750 square foot building at 349 E 140th St. into a community-controlled hub. It is being converted through the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards, a Community Land Trust, which means the space will be permanently held outside of market forces and dedicated to public good in perpetuity.

The Health component will include exercise classes, health screenings, group counseling, new mothers support groups, and meditation circles, alongside a commercial kitchen and cafeteria for healthy cooking demonstrations. The Education component will offer workforce development training — including green jobs training for young NYCHA residents through a partnership with Green City Force — along with afterschool support, resume writing, STEM classes, and interview preparation. The Arts component will include music instruction, drawing and painting, theater, graphic design, dance, photography, and film, with a dedicated performance space for community events and rehearsals.

South Bronx Unite is located at 127 Lincoln Ave., 2nd Floor, and can be reached at info@southbronxunite.nyc. The HEArts Center project site is at 349 E 140th St., Mott Haven, Bronx.

Why This Neighborhood Needs It

Mott Haven and Port Morris are among the most densely populated and under-resourced communities in New York City. As South Bronx Unite notes on its website, given the challenges faced by residents, there should be a community center every few blocks — but right now there are zero multi-purpose, multi-use spaces where youth, adults, and elders can access a range of programming in one place.

The HEArts Center is designed to fix that by being a home for local organizations already doing the work, rather than creating programming from scratch. It will provide affordable, permanent space for nonprofits at risk of displacement from the neighborhood’s changing real estate market.

The project is currently completing a $13 million capital campaign. Residents and supporters can take a brief survey on what programs and services should be offered — the link is available at southbronxunite.org.

What You Need to Know

The HEArts Center will be located at 349 East 140th Street, Mott Haven, Bronx — the former Lincoln Recovery Center.
The building is owned by the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards, a Community Land Trust, ensuring it stays community-controlled in perpetuity.
Renovation is underway; programming is expected to launch by 2027.
The center will offer health, education, and arts programming with specific plans to serve youth, adults, seniors, and NYCHA residents.
A $13 million capital campaign is underway. Donations and support information are at southbronxunite.org.
South Bronx Unite has been organizing for this building since 2013 — more than a decade of community-driven work to get here.

The HEArts Center is not just a building project. It is a demonstration that a neighborhood can win something permanent when it organizes long enough and refuses to stop. In the South Bronx in 2026, that is worth knowing about.