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Alafia Phase One
Alafia Phase One
Developed by Apex Building Company, L+M Development Partners, RiseBoro Community Partnership and Services for the Underserved (S:US), Alafia will be a wellness-oriented community in the Spring Creek Area of East New York, Brooklyn. Once completed, Alafia will feature more than 2,400 affordable apartments, open space, fitness trails, urban farming, a healthcare facility and food production space. Alafia will be sited on 27 acres that formerly housed the Brooklyn Developmental Center.
Alafia is being developed under New York State’s Vital Brooklyn initiative for community development and wellness. The project takes its name from the Yoruba phrase for wellness and peace and is inspired by Blue Zones around the world, which are naturally occurring communities that foster healthier, longer lives for their residents. Alafia will include a one-acre urban farm; four acres of publicly accessible open space including a fitness loop, plaza and park; a 15,000-square foot healthcare facility for One Brooklyn Health; local retail and social enterprise with an emphasis on minority-, women-, and locally owned businesses; and food production space that includes a Meals on Wheels kitchen. Additionally, a 40,000 square foot site has been set aside by Empire State Development for future public school needs, in consultation with the New York City Department of Education.
Through the integration of affordable housing with open space and fitness opportunities, healthy food retail, urban agriculture, small businesses and social enterprises focused on economic empowerment, access to healthcare and community-wide programming to build strong social ties, Alafia aims to address the social determinants of health to improve the greater wellbeing not only of this development’s residents but of Brooklyn as a whole.
Alafia will also serve as a model of sustainable development, with residential buildings designed to Passive House standards. In its first phase alone, the project is utilizing renewable energy from solar panels, a large-scale geothermal well field for heating and cooling with no fossil fuels and even heat recovery from residents’ shower drain water utilizing SHARC energy systems. Alafia’s master plan and first phase was designed by Dattner Architects and SCAPE.
Phase One of the Alafia development is a mixed-use building that will create 452 affordable apartments including 136 supportive housing units: 48 units set aside for individuals with behavioral health challenges and 88 units for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a population with historic ties to the Brooklyn Developmental Center site. Onsite services will be provided by Services for the Underserved.
HSE served as deal counsel in helping to secure $270 million in financing for Phase One from the New York State Department of Housing and Community Renewal Housing Finance Agency and Wells Fargo.
Developer: L+M Development Partners, RiseBoro Community Partnership, Services for the Underserved, and Apex Building Company
Architect: Dattner Architects and SCAPE
Contractor: Apex Building Company
Number of Units: 452
Financing: HCR Housing Finance Agency/Wells Fargo