NYC HPD

New cooperative building will give first time home buyers affordable opportunity to own their home. On February 28, 2018, the Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) announced plans to develop a 100 percent affordable seven-story co-op building in the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx. The building, named Sydney House, is the first affordable housing development to be financed under the HPD’s Open Door program. (more…)

Mayor Bill de Blasio. Image credit: CityLand

Plan anticipates creating or preserving 20,000 homeownership opportunities by 2026. On December 11, 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced two new programs, Open Door, which aids first-time homeowners buy a condo or coop, and HomeFix, which helps New Yorkers make capital improvements to their homes. These two programs will reach at least 2,100 households in eight years. These programs are part of the Mayor’s 300,000 affordable housing plan. (more…)

Council Member Brad Lander. Image Credit: William Alatriste for the City Council.

The proposal would allow for the construction of a new ten-unit, four-story residential development on a vacant Brooklyn lot. On December 12, 2016, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard testimony on an application for the rezoning of three lots at 14–18 Carroll Street, in the Columbia Street Waterfront District neighborhood in Brooklyn Community District 6. The developer proposed the construction a ten-unit residential building on three vacant lots, totaling 6,229 square feet and currently zoned for light manufacturing. The application included a zoning text amendment to apply Inclusionary Housing regulations to the area prior to the December 12th hearing. The developer would have had to make a required payment into the City’s affordable housing fund required by the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law. (more…)

Rendering of Rheingold Development as seen from Bushwick Avenue and Forrest Street, Brooklyn. Image Courtesy of Forrest Lots, LLC.

Controversial Bushwick development project questioned on affordable housing goals in public hearings. On December 10, 2013, the full City Council voted 48-1 to rezone six blocks in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in order to allow the development of ten mixed-use developments. The rezoning area is bounded by Bushwick Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Melrose Street, Stanwix Street, and Forrest Street.  Council’s Committee on Land Use voted 18-1 and Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises unanimously voted 10-0 to approve the project. Council Member Charles Barron voted in the negative at the Stated Meeting and Land Use Committee meeting, citing concerns about housing affordability. (more…)

Credit: Magnusson Architecture and Planning

NYCHA-proposed rezoning would facilitate development of two eight-story buildings and 16 attached duplexes on an underutilized parking lot. On August 22, 2012, the City Planning Commission approved NYCHA’s proposal to develop a 238-unit, multi-building affordable housing project in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The 155,000-square-foot project site is on the southeastern edge of a block bounded by Randall, Bronx River, Lacombe, and Rosedale Avenues. NYCHA’s 13-building Soundview Houses housing complex is north of the site, and the 205-acre Soundview Park lies to the southwest of the site. A portion of the project site is occupied by an underutilized 120-space parking lot used by the Soundview Houses.

NYCHA selected CPC Resources and Lemle & Wolff to develop the project. The project would include two eight-story apartment buildings, 16 attached two-family homes, and a total of 79 parking spaces. One eight-story building would include 85 one-bedroom units exclusively available for rent by senior citizens aged 55 and older, and one three-bedroom unit for a superintendent. A second eight-story building would provide a total of 120 rental units, and include a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Both buildings would be marketed to persons earning 60 percent or less of the area median income. The proposed two-family duplexes would include a three-bedroom unit and a two-bedroom rental unit. NYCHA intends to make each unit available for purchase to persons earning 100 percent of the area median income. (more…)