The new mixed-use development includes more than 12,000 square feet of grocery retail space under the City’s FRESH initiative which promotes nutritious, affordable, and fresh food in underserved neighborhoods
New York, NY – (RealEstateRama) — Representatives from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) joined Radson Development, Citi Community Capital, and project partners today for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of Strivers Plaza, a new affordable housing development located at 275 West 140th Street in the Central Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan.
The 54-unit, 8-story mixed-use development includes 15 studio, 12 one bedroom, 26 two bedroom units, and one unit set aside for an on-site superintendent. Apartments are affordable to households earning as little as $18,275 for an individual and $30,069 for a household of four.
“With more than 50 units of newly constructed low- and middle-income housing and over 12,000 square feet of grocery space under the City’s FRESH program, Strivers Plaza is bringing much-needed housing, jobs, and fresh food options to Central Harlem,” said HDC President Eric Enderlin. “Thanks to all our partners at Radson Development, Wavecrest Management, Citi Community Capital, HPD, DCP, EDC, and the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy for their dedication to building a more affordable New York and healthier communities overall.”
“Through the programmatic support of the City’s FRESH program, Strivers Plaza is a wonderful example of the Administration’s commitment to developing strong, healthy neighborhoods while creating much needed affordable housing,” said HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer. “I want to thank our development partners at HDC and Radson Development for making this development possible.”
In addition to 500 square feet of community facility space, the development includes 12,268 square feet of commercial space dedicated to a Key Food grocery store as part of the City’s Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) initiative. The FRESH initiative comes in response to a city-funded study that showed many low-income areas across the city are underserved by neighborhood grocery stores. The resulting lack of nutritious, affordable, fresh food in these neighborhoods has been linked to higher rates of diet-related diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The initiative works across city agencies to provide zoning and financial incentives to promote the establishment and retention of neighborhood grocery stores in underserved communities throughout the five boroughs.
“Access to affordable, healthy food is essential for a community’s health and wellbeing,” said Director of Food Policy Barbara Turk. “I am thrilled that Striver’s Plaza includes both affordable housing and a grocery store.”
“We are very proud of Strivers Plaza. It is a rare opportunity to be involved with a public and private partnership that creates jobs, improves a neighborhood, and changes people’s lives with affordable housing and access to fresh food with Harlem’s first FRESH certified Supermarket,” said Daniel Rad, Principal at Radson Development. “We would like to thank our partners at HDC, HPD, DCP and Citi that made it all possible.”
The total development cost at closing for Strivers Plaza was approximately $20 million. HDC provided more than $10.4 million in Recycled Tax Exempt Bonds and over $3.5 million in corporate reserves. HPD provided nearly $3 million in City Capital. Citi posted a $10.5 million construction period letter of credit in connection with the Bonds. Radson Development contributed more than $3.2 million in equity to the project.
“Citi is proud to have provided the construction financing for Strivers Plaza,” said William Yates, a director with Citi Community Capital, Citi’s community development finance group. “Not only does the project include housing units affordable to the low- and middle-income households, but also a brand new supermarket with fresh food offerings for the community.”
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About the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD):
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its mission is to promote quality housing and diverse, thriving neighborhoods for New Yorkers through loan and development programs for new affordable housing, preservation of the affordability of the existing housing stock, enforcement of housing quality standards, and educational programs for tenants and building owners. HPD is tasked with fulfilling Mayor de Blasio’s Housing New York: A Five-Borough Ten-Year Plan to create and preserve 200,000 affordable units for New Yorkers at the very lowest incomes to those in the middle class. For more information visit www.nyc.gov/hpd and for regular updates on HPD news and services, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @NYCHousing.
About the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC):
HDC is the nation’s largest municipal Housing Finance Agency and is charged with helping to finance the creation or preservation of affordable housing under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York plan. Since 2003, HDC has financed more than 120,000 housing units using over $13.7 billion in bonds, and provided in excess of $1.6 billion in subsidy from corporate reserves. HDC ranks among the nation’s top issuers of mortgage revenue bonds for affordable multi-family housing on Thomson Reuter’s annual list of multi-family bond issuers. In each of the last four consecutive years, HDC’s annual bond issuance has surpassed $1 billion. For additional information, visit: http://www.nychdc.com
CONTACT: Juliet Pierre-Antoine, morrisj (at) hpd.nyc (dot) gov
Stephanie Mavronicolas, smavronicolas (at) nychdc (dot) com
