Brooklyn, New York – The New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) joined St. Nick’s Alliance and the Consumer Action Program of Bedford Stuyvesant (CABS) for the ribbon-cutting of CABS Housing, also known as 270 Pulaski Street, located in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. Also in attendance were project partners and supporters including State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Councilmember Albert Vann.
270 Pulaski Street Apartments was rehabilitated under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan (NHMP). The NHMP is a multi-billion dollar initiative to finance 165,000 units of affordable, income-restricted housing for half a million New Yorkers by the close of Fiscal Year 2014. For every dollar invested by the City, the NHMP has leveraged $3.43 in private funding, amounting to a total commitment to date of more than $21 billion to fund the creation or preservation of over 147,800 units of affordable housing across the five boroughs to date. A total of 35,973 units have been financed in Brooklyn, with 4,112 units in Brooklyn Community Board 3 where 270 Pulaski Street Apartments will be located.
“Over the years, CABS has played a pivotal role in keeping this historic neighborhood stable and vibrant,” said Marc Jahr, President of HDC. “HDC is proud to work with CABSto ensure that the contributions it hasmade to the Bed-Stuy community are as lasting as they are strong. The preservation of affordable housing is a key goal under the Mayor’s New Housing Marketplace Plan and I am pleased that we were able to finance the renovation of 270 Pulaski Street with CABS and its partner St. Nicks. It is rewarding on many levels to know that together, we have breathed new life into this development and in improving tenants’ living conditions, we have acted to preserve and stabilize this neighborhood.”
270 Pulaski Street, a 66-unit six-story multifamily building, was originally built in the early 1970’s by the Consumer Action Program of Bedford Stuyvesant, a non-profit community development, known locally as CABS. The rehabilitation included the creation of six additional units of low-income housing in former commercial space, increasing the total unit count to 72. 100 percent of the units were reserved for individuals or families earning at or below 60% AMI ($49,080 for a family of four), at the present time. AMI levels are calculated yearly by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Units will range in size between one and four-bedroom apartments.
“CABS is delighted about this recapitalization and renovation. It will enable this building to maintain, for the foreseeable future, its original purpose: To provide high-quality, affordable housing for low-income people,” said CABS Executive Director Adolfo G. Alayon.
The improvements to the property cost approximately $6.7 million and included replacing the building’s plumbing and electrical systems with energy efficient equipment, replacing the building’s exterior skin, making upgrades to common areas and apartment interiors and enhancing fire safety.
The entire project, which included refinancing the building, cost $18.5 million. This includes $9.2 million in tax-exempt bonds from HDC, a low-income housing tax credit investment from Richman Housing Resources and a letter of credit from JPMorgan Chase. Members of the development team included Rockabill Advisors, St. Nicks Alliance, Nomad Architecture, and FG-PH Corp.
About NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC):
Since 2000, HDC has issued roughly 10% of all the multi-family housing revenue bonds in the U.S. and since 2003, when Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan was launched, HDC has raised more than $6.7 billion in financing for affordable housing developments, including providing in excess of $1 billion in subsidy from corporate reserves. In Affordable Housing Finance magazine’s annual listing of the nation’s top ten funders of multifamily housing, HDC is the only municipal entity on the list. In 2013, HDC was the third largest affordable housing lender in the U.S. after Citi and Wells Fargo, beating out Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Capital One. To date, under the Mayor’s plan, HDC has financed the creation or preservation of more than 70,628 of the total 147,890 affordable units. Multifamily buildings financed by HDC contain more than 1.7 million square feet of commercial space. For additional information, visit: www.nychdc.com
