The Boricua College project is the new construction of a 120,000 sq. ft. academic and administrative building for Boricua College in the Bronx. The new building is part of the larger Boricua Village project which includes 700 units of mixed-income housing and retail space and is part of the overall redevelopment of the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Area. The Boricua college project provides an institution of higher education with a curriculum geared towards an underserved and largely low-income population. The college serves as a beacon of higher education and stability in the Melrose Commons neighborhood, which is one of the poorest sections of New York City and the entire country, and had been sorely lacking such an institutional presence.