550 Watkins Street Brings 104 Affordable Apartments To East New York
July 01, 2011
CPCR recently joined with dignitaries from a myriad of public-private agencies and residents to celebrate the grand opening of 550 Watkins Street, a new development in Brownsville using CPCR’s unique Infill Housing Model – an efficient, cost-effective prototype for building affordable housing that is designed specifically to fit R-6 zoning, which is prevalent in residential neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
The site is located on former City-owned land that was conveyed to CPCR by HPD. This project was developed by CPCR & East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), and will bring 104 units of affordable housing to the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.
550 Watkins Street was developed under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan (NHMP), an $8.5 billion initiative to finance 165,000 units of affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by 2014. To date, the plan has funded the creation or preservation of more than 114,000 units of affordable housing across the five boroughs; 3,947 of those units in Brooklyn Community Board 16 where 550 Watkins Street is located.
East Brooklyn Churches (EBC) has been a strong tool for neighborhood transformation for 25 years. CPC has partnered with EBC for over 20 years on many Brooklyn-based projects, which include the Nehemiah home ownerships developments. CPC financed over 700 units of affordable housing on desolate vacant City-owned land in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood with an investment of more than $34 million.
In 2009, CPC joined with EBC and HPD to celebrate the latest Nehemiah development, which is the transformation of a former landfill into a new community for 7,000 New Yorkers. Nehemiah Spring Creek Homes is located on a 227-acre site in East New York. Phase One forms part of Gateway Estates, a new community that will eventually include a total of 2,219 affordable homes, new streets, sewers and sidewalks, a public school and four parks. Through the Brooklyn Nehemiah Program, EBC and HPD have jointly constructed and sold close to 3,000 single family homes within East Brooklyn.
550 Watkins Street is composed of 35 one-bedroom, 57 two-bedroom, and 11 three-bedroom units with an additional unit set aside for the superintendent. The location will feature on-site laundry facilities and 22 on-site parking spaces. All of the units will be affordable to tenants with incomes at or below 60% Area Median Income (AMI) or what is equivalent to an annual household income of $47,520 for a family of four. Out of 104 units, 21 will be reserved for the homeless.
The total development cost was $28.5 million. HDC financed the construction of the Watkins Street buildings by issuing $14.5 million in tax-exempt bonds and lending $5.9 million in low-interest subsidy from its corporate reserves. CPCR, the for-profit development arm of the Community Preservation Corporation, managed all aspects of the development and construction of the project. In addition to HDC financing, HPD provided $6.3 million in City Capital and HOME funds subsidy through the Low Income Rental Program. During construction, the bonds were backed by a letter of credit from Chase Community Development Banking. RBC Capital Markets’ Tax Credit Equity Group syndicated $10 million in tax credit equity as part of the total development cost.
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