News

As reported by Adventist Today, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held today for Northeastern Towers Annex, an upcoming affordable housing development in southeast Queens that will be constructed adjacent to the existing Northeastern Towers senior citizen affordable housing development. When completed, Northeastern Towers Annex will provide 158 units of affordable housing for residents at or below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI), a community room, exercise and wellness center, social service office suite, and rooftop terrace and garden.

As reported in Urbanize New York, permits have been filed for a 15-story residential building at 888 Fountain Avenue in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn. Developed by L+M Development Partners and designed by Dattner Architects, 888 Fountain Avenue will create over 400 residential units and 8,000 square feet of commercial space.

An opinion piece in the New York Daily News cited the Bronx Point and Hunters Point South affordable housing developments as examples of new developments that meet The Waterfront Alliance’s Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines (WEDG).

Phipps House has closed on $217 million in construction financing for the first phase of the Atlantic Chestnut affordable housing development, as reported by the New York Real Estate Journal. When completed, Atlantic Chestnut will be the largest project developed under the 2016 East New York rezoning. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the New York City Housing Development Corp.’s (HDC) ELLA Program, and Wells Fargo provided financing.

As reported in the New York Real Estate Journal, a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy was issued to the Doe Fund for the new affordable and supportive housing development at 1325 Jerome Avenue. Featuring 82 studio units, 92 one-bedroom units, 53 two-bedroom units, 27 three-bedroom units, and one live-in superintendent, the development is the largest of The Doe Fund’s eleven affordable and supportive housing residences in operation and development. It will serve formerly homeless individuals and individuals and households from the NYCHA waitlist.

As reported in Real Estate Weekly, financing has closed on the second and final phase of Sendero Verde, a Passive House affordable mixed-use development in East Harlem. $223 million in Phase 2 financing included New York City Housing Development Corporation and New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development construction loans, a New York State Energy Research and Development Authority grant, and Resolution A funding from the NYC Council and Borough Presidents Discretionary Funding, along with a Citi Bank letter of credit, LIHTCs, and solar investment tax credits.

The closing of Phase 2 financing was also covered by Crain’s New York, Finance Advice Today, the New York Business Journal, Multi-Housing News, and New York YIMBY.

Phipps Houses has closed $217 million in construction financing for Atlantic Chestnut, an affordable housing project in East New York that Bklynr reported will be the largest development in the neighborhood since it was rezoned in 2016. The 14-story building will include 1,165 apartments, 34.5% of which will be reserved for families earning 40-80% of area median income and 15%  of which will be reserved for formerly homeless individuals. The development will feature commercial space, rooftop deck, courtyard, and on-site social services provided by a local non-profit.  Atlantic Chestnut has a planned completion date of 2023.

You can read more about Atlantic Chestnut in Brooklyn Paper, Urbanize New York, Brownstoner, New York YIMBY, Real Estate Weekly, Multi-Housing News, and Construction Equipment Guide.

The Urban Land Institute New York has named Beach Green Dunes as one of three finalists for the 2021 Excellence in Affordable Housing Development award. The ULI New York Awards for Excellence in Development recognize every aspect of the development process, including architecture and design. More information about the awards and the nominees can be found on the Awards for Excellence in Development website.

As reported in YIMBY, two of the five buildings in the new La Central development are now complete. Buildings A and B will provide almost 500 income-restricted units, available to people earning between 30% and 100% of Area Median Income, along with a new YMCA, a mix of retail businesses, and a rooftop farm. When all five buildings are complete La Central will provide more than 1,000 affordable apartments and 80,000 square feet of community facilities.

The opening of buildings A and B was also covered by New York Real Estate Journal, 6sqft, Norwood News, and Bronx Times.

As reported in YIMBY, plans have been updated for a 100% affordable housing development at 4790 Broadway in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan. The 14-story facility will include 174 affordable residential units, a public library, a 6,800 square-foot pre-school/pre-kindergarten operated by the New York City Department of Education, 10,000 square feet of community spaces managed by the Community League of the Heights (CLOTH) and Children’s Village, and over 2,000 square feet of flexible classroom space for STEAM managed by First Robotics. The development will be named The Eliza in honor of Eliza Hamilton, the wife of Alexander Hamilton.

You can also read coverage in The Real Deal.

In partnership with developer Gotham Organization, the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) has broken ground on two new developments at 55 Suffolk Street and 64 Norfolk Street on New York City’s Lower East Side. The 55 Suffolk Street development will be home to a new, 40,000 square-foot CPC headquarters; 378 rental homes, 25% of which will be affordable, and 18,000 square feet of retail space.

The 84,000 square-foot new construction development at 64 Norfolk Street will create 115 affordable housing units for senior citizens and a new 4,000 square-foot congregation and cultural heritage center for the Beth Hamedrash Hagodol (BHH) synagogue. You can read more about the groundbreaking on CPC’s website.

As covered in Real Estate Weekly, the groundbreaking for the new Bronx Point development brought L+M Development Partners together with hip hop luminaries and New York City officials. The 22-story Bronx Point development will provide 542 affordable apartments, an early childhood space, outdoor science programming, and the home of the Universal Hip Hop Museum.

The groundbreaking was also covered by ABC4 News and New York YIMBY. As reported in the New York Post, the development will also support efforts to make New York City’s waterfront a more sustainably developed area.

Construction will begin this month on a $36 million senior housing complex at 811 Lexington Avenue on the site of a former parking lot in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Developed by IMPACCT Brooklyn, the four-story building will provide 63 apartments reserved for low-income seniors, who will also receive rental subsidies. Twenty of the units will be reserved for seniors at risk for homelessness. The development will also include a dedicated apartment for a live-in superintendent, a community room, and a roof-level recreation room that opens onto a planned green roof and garden. Read more about this project in BKReader.

The development team behind Cooper Park Commons recently presented new renderings and more details about the project to Brooklyn Community Board 1. Sited on the former Greenpoint Hospital grounds in East Williamsburg, Cooper Park Commons will consist of four buildings: two renovated existing historic buildings and two newly constructed buildings. Three of the buildings will provide a total of 557 units of affordable housing, 20% of which will be reserved specifically for senior citizens. The fourth building will serve as a 200-bed homeless shelter, replacing the current shelter that has existed since 1982.

In addition to housing, the two new buildings will provide a cafe, a business and workforce development center operated by development partner St. Nicks Alliance, a walk-in health clinic, and a senior center, along with amenities like solar panels, playrooms for children, resident lounges, laundry rooms, fitness centers, bike storage, and rooftop terraces.

Cooper Park Commons is being developed through a joint venture with Hudson Companies Inc., St. Nicks Alliance, and Project Renewal, and designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning and Architecture Outfit.

As reported by Brownstoner, the development plans “were enthusiastically embraced by local residents.”

As reported in YIMBY, construction on the mixed-use development at 145 West 108th Street in New York City is nearing completion. Developed by the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, the 200,000 square-foot, 11-story building will include 199 residential units for low-income families and senior citizens, as well as a new facility for Valley Lodge that will serve 110 seniors. The development will also feature community facility space, a new home for the Central Park Medical Unit, and public restrooms for the adjacent Anibal Aviles Playground.

Excavation has begun on the Lower East Side at the site of what will become the Broome Street Development. The mixed-use project developed Gotham Organization will include 488 rental units, 43% of which will be affordable housing. The 387,223 square-foot development is scheduled to be completed by June 2023.

Next City recently profiled the upcoming Universal Hip Hop Museum, which will be part of the Bronx Point development. The in-depth article is part of Next City‘s “For Whom, By Whom” series that explores “how creative placemaking can expand opportunities for low-income people living in disinvested communities.”

The new Urban League Empowerment Center Project has officially broken ground in Harlem. The $242 million project will bring to life the 42,000 square-foot national headquarters for the National Urban League, a 19,500 square-foot National Urban League Institute for Race, Equity and Justice conference center, and a 21,500 square-foot Urban Civil Rights Museum Experience.

Bedford Union Armory will be officially renamed the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center when it opens later this year. BFC Partners, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and Majority Leader Laurie A. Cumbo announced the renaming in honor of former U.S. Congressman Major Robert Owens. Congressman Owens was a renowned civil rights and social justice leader, beginning his career as an information librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library and eventually serving 25 years in the United States House of Representatives.

The joint venture behind the affordable housing Sendero Verde development was praised in “Building Climate Resilience in Cities Worldwide,” a report authored by the Urban Land Institute and the Centre for Liveable Cities. “Inclusion is best achieved when all communities have effective voices in decision-making processes,” write the authors. “In addition to direct public outreach, stakeholders can also identify and partner with organisations and individuals in the community and position them in roles with meaningful influence.” The report cites the joint venture of L+M Development Partners, Jonathan Rose Companies, and the community organization Acacia Network and its development of Sendero Verde as an example of how this aspirational goal can be achieved.

BFC Partners, L+M Development Partners, Taconic Partners, the Prusik Group and Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group (collectively, “Delancey Street Associates”) has unveiled plans for One Essex Crossing, a 14-story condominium with 83 units built around an elevated 9,000 square foot amenity garden. You can read more about the project in NYREJ.

CityRealty recently featured upcoming museum and cultural projects throughout New York City, including several client developments.

The Urban Civil Rights Museum will be located at the Urban League Empowerment Center, the new headquarters of the Urban League in Harlem. The Museum will focus on “the development of Harlem as a ‘beacon for African American progress,” including an exploration of the impact of urbanization on African Americans and a showcase of the role of the civil rights movement in the development of cities across America.

Part of the Bronx Point development, the Universal Hip Hop Museum will celebrate and preserve “the history of local and global hip-hop music and culture to inspire, empower, and promote understanding.” The Museum is founded by hip hop legends including Kurtis Blow and Grandmaster Melle Mel, and will feature educational and entertainment experiences.

The new Irish Arts Center will be located at 726 Eleventh Avenue on the former site of an auto repair shop. Now in its 49th year, the Center will continue to project “a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America for the 21st century,” and build community among cross-cultural artists and audiences.

Congratulations to Handel Architects on earning a Merit Award in Multi-Family Residential Design from the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA) for The Essex at Essex Crossing. The national awards recognized 34 projects across a variety of disciplines. You can view the entire list here.

The 17-story development at 121 West 125th Street will include the new headquarters and conference center for the National Urban League, the Urban Civil Rights Experience Museum, a Target store, and 170 units of supportive and affordable housing.

Target and Trader Joe’s will be anchor retailers for the mixed-use development under construction at 121 West 125th Street that will also be home to the new Urban League Empowerment Center.