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Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

By Matt Chaban 5/29/12 3:55pm

Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

Home sweet home. (Property Shark)

Who Wants to Turn This Old Architecture Graveyard in Williamsburg into Affordable Housing?

It used to house cast offs from some of the city’s oldest buildings, but soon it could house low-income New Yorkers.

The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is seeking a developer to turn a  Williamsburg warehouse that served as storage for the Landmarks Preservation Commission into an affordable housing development with 50 apartments. The development, at 337 Berry Street, sits on a 15,000-square-foot lot and calls for commercial or community space on the ground floor, as well as about 1,200 square feet of open space for residents.

The views are not too bad, looking out on the Williamsburg Bridge and Manhattan, though the rumble of the J-Train just might intrude on the apartments, as well, barring some good windows. Read More

By Michael Ewing 3/22/12 11:15am

Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

Who wouldn't want to call this home?

Bookish Living: Municipal Art Society Proposes Turning Libraries into Apartments

If you  aren’t comfortable living in a church, that’s fine. But what about a library?

The Municipal Arts Society is leading the conversation on converting public libraries into apartment buildings, the Real Deal reports. President Vin Cipolla noted that the change in technology (read: Kindles and iPads) will lead to under-used, or even unused, library spaces. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 2/13/12 11:09am

Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

Fixing homes from the bully pulput. (William Alatriste/City Council)

Quinn Tackles Affordable Housing and Maintenance Problems In State of the City Address

In between heavy dollops of sentiment, Christine Quinn cemented some specific plans to combat the affordable housing problem and the facilitation of upgrading the City’s landlord maintenance code in her State of the City address last week.

Ms. Quinn outlined how the Housing Preservation and Development Department is extending affordability to 60 years for some of the biggest developments. Affordability agreements currently stand at just the 30-year mark. Read More

By Matt Chaban 11/09/11 12:28pm

Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

The_Bradford_Bed_Stuy_2

Lloyd Blankfein's Bed-Stuy Pet Project Rising Fast

It was less than a year-ago that Lloyd Blankfein’s set his loafered foot in Bed-Stuy, for the groundbreaking of the Bradford, a middle- and low-income development being constructed on Fulton Street. It was an unusual place to find the banker, but Goldman, capable of making money anywhere, had made a $45 million investment in the project. Brownstoner recently passed by the project, and, as you can see, it’s come a long way in a short amount of time.The whole shebang is due to open next summer. Read More

By Anna Sanders 9/12/11 1:40pm

Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

It's what's on the inside that counts. (Jonathan Rose Companies)

Without Too Much Green, Harlem Gets Affordable Enviro Housing

At $60 to power a 100-watt light blub, solar energy isn’t cheap. Neither are the locally grown foods at the weekly farmer’s market. But with the help of some coveted stimulus money, environmentally sustainable living is no longer a luxury for 200 Harlem families. A row of 10 apartment building on West 135th Street have just been transformed by Jonathan Rose Companies, the first such project to benefit from H.U.D.’s Green Retrofit Program.  Read More

By Matt Chaban 8/29/11 5:48pm

Affordable Housing or Lack Thereof

Randolph_Houses_North

Do 36 Harlem Tenements Hold the Key to the City’s Affordable Housing Future?

Better days are ahead for the Randolph Houses on West 114th Street—not that the 36 tenement buildings in Central Harlem have ever truly known good days.

Built in the 1890s, along with thousands of other substandard cold water flats serving the booming population of European immigrants, the buildings were abandoned amidst white flight. Like so many other unwanted apartments of that generation, they were taken over by the city in the 1970s and turned into public housing. Attempts at upkeep have been made over the years, but the upkeep never really was, well, kept up. The buildings have deteriorated to such a state that only 109 of their 452 units are occupied, but the city cannot afford to fix them.

To finally revive the Randolph Houses, the city’s Housing Authority and Department of Housing Preservation and Development are partnering with a private developer to retrofit the properties into modern, low-income housing. A request for proposals was released last week, and the winning developer will be charged with transforming the buildings into a mix of 140 public housing units and at least 155 affordable housing units. Read More