On Monday, family, friends, political leaders, and members of Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation and the Enterprise Foundation gathered at 2348 Webster Ave. to recognize the late Astin Jacobo by unveiling Jacob’s Place, an affordable, energy-efficient apartment building in his honor.

All in attendance, including his longtime pastor Father John C. Flynn – who was "angry at him for dying because he’s not replaceable" – praised the man known to most as "Jacob" for his work with youth and his community building efforts in the Crotona neighborhood.

"I am sure that Astin Jacobo, who was a source of inspiration to many in the Bronx community, including myself, would be happy to know that this affordable development will provide healthy, environmentally friendly, energy efficient housing for the residents of our community," said John Reilly, the executive director of the Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation, the project’s developer.

As reported in the April 5 edition of the Norwood News, Jacob’s Place is a 63-unit housing development in the northwest Bronx that features six early education classrooms for 120 students as well as a playscape for both the children of the center and tenants.

Features of this housing development include elevators that use nearly a third of the energy of regular elevators, a playground floor made of recycled tires, a mural of Jacobo’s life and work on the wall in the community room, and large insulated windows that allow more natural light to flow into the building, which received financing help from Enterprise, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Borough President Adolfo Carrion, and JPMorganChase.

In order to live in these apartments, tenants must earn between 30 and 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI), or about $21,000 to $42,000.

What makes this project particularly "green" or environmentally friendly is the solar energy system on the roof. Under the Southern California-based BP Solar Neighbors Program, the brainchild of actor Edward Norton, every time a celebrity buys a solar energy system for their home, another system is donated to a low-income family. The Jacob’s Place donation was made possible by actor Owen Wilson. It marks the program’s first solar panel system outside of California and the first to be put in a multi-family housing unit.

"Thirty years ago, Howard Cosell told the world that the Bronx was burning," Reilly said. "Today, we recognize all those people who stayed and fought. We showed the world that the Bronx is a place where people care about each other, even, and especially, when times and circumstances are difficult."