TF Cornerstone has prevailed in its bid to build the second phase of Hunter’s Point South, the massive, middle-income housing complex on the Long Island City waterfront. TF Cornerstone, who lost out to the Related Companies to build the first phase in 2011, will partner with Selfhelp, a senior citizen non-profit, on the second phase, to build two towers designed by the ODA, with SLCE Architects as the architect of record.
The Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced its selection this afternoon, which it made after putting out an RFP; TF Cornerstone has extensive experience in the neighborhood, having developed the seven market-rate residential towers on the former Pepsi-Cola site, the last of which is slated to open sometime next year.
“When TF Cornerstone broke ground on our LIC Waterfront project more than ten years ago, we envisioned the creation of a multi-faceted, family-friendly community with diverse retail options, top-of-the-line schools and expansive park space,” wrote TF Cornerstone chairman K. Thomas Elghanayn in a statement following the announcement. “We thank HPD for this designation which allows us to continue to grow our affordable housing portfolio and solidifies LIC’s position as a preeminent, 24/7 multigenerational, mixed-income and mixed-use community.”
The second phase of the mega-development, the largest middle-income complex built in the city since Co-op and LeFrak City in the 1970s, will be comprised of two housing towers with 1,193 new apartments, 796 of them affordable, with 100 of those reserved for low-income seniors (the remainder of the apartments will be market rate). The towers will be built on a parcel bounded by Borden Avenue to the north, 54th Avenue to the south and 2nd Street to the east. Altogether, 66 percents of the units will be affordable—slightly above the city’s 60 percent target set by the city, although not as impressive as the first phase of the project, in which 685 of the 908 apartments in the two rental towers, or 75 percent, will be set aside for working and middle-class families earning between $32,000 and $130,000 a year.
The majority of the affordable units in the second phase will be reserved for middle-income families making between 105 percent to 155 percent of the area median income, or $111,670 to $141,735 for a family of four. Half of the units will also be larger, featuring two and three-bedrooms to accommodate families.
The TF Cornerstone buildings will also include a fitness facility, rooftop gardens, a pre-K, rock climbing wall, some 20,000-square feet of commercial space and an on-site senior recreational center with fitness classes, nutritional education and blood pressure screenings provided by Selfhelp, a senior services non-profit.
TF Cornerstone was also a finalist for the first phase of the project; after Related was selected (as part of a team with Monadnock Construction and Phipps Houses) Mr. Elghanayan told The New York Times that he was “disappointed” but that “Related is a very competent firm;” other rivals complained that Related’s close relationship with the Bloomberg administration had all but guaranteed its selection.
When completed, the complex will include 5,000 units and more than 11 acres of waterfront parkland, new retail shops, community facility space and a school; a 7-acre waterfront park and an intermediate/high school have already been completed.
