New $18 Million Catholic Charities Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments to Provide 64 Units in Ocean Hill
Brooklyn, NY – October 4, 2013 – (RealEstateRama) — NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas, Senior Vice President & Head of CPC Resources, Inc. Thomas McGrath, Roman Catholic Bishop of Brooklyn Nicholas DiMarzio, Monsignor Alfred LoPinto, Vicar for Human Services for the Diocese of Brooklyn on behalf of the Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Commissioner and CEO Darryl C. Towns, Richman Housing Resources President William Traylor, and residents today celebrated the completion of Catholic Charities Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments, a new $18 million development featuring 64 units of low-income housing in the Ocean Hill section of Brooklyn. Developed as a partnership between CPCR and Catholic Charities, the development is located on the site of the former school, rectory, and convent of Our Lady of Loreto Church.
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Catholic Charities Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments was developed 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 housing for half a million New Yorkers by 2014. To date, the plan has funded the creation or preservation of more than 156,397 units of affordable housing across the five boroughs with 37,295 of those units in Brooklyn.
“It took vision and resolve to transform these underused properties―once a rectory, a school and a convent―into these beautiful homes,” said HPD Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas. “Thanks are due to our partners at CPC, New York State Homes and Community Renewal, Brooklyn Community Board 16, Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, Richman Housing Resources, and JP Morgan Chase. The hard work of all of these great organizations is well represented in bricks and mortar and glass. But the most important aspect of this new development is the families and individuals that will have a new place to call home. ”
Darryl C. Towns, Commissioner/CEO of HCR said, “New York State is committed to investing in developments like Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments. I know the neighborhoods of Ocean Hill and Brownsville well—and also know that housing like this will advance Governor Andrew Cuomo’s vision of stronger, more vibrant communities. These beautiful, new apartments will be energy-efficient and affordable homes that will complement the surrounding neighborhood. I commend and congratulate CPC, CPCR, Catholic Charities, HPD, Richman and all of the other partners who brought this important project to completion.”
“Catholic Charities Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments will help to provide safe affordable housing options in Brooklyn and typifies our efforts to partner with multiple public and private entities to create much needed affordable housing across the New York City,” Thomas McGrath, Senior Vice President & Head of CPC Resources, Inc. (CPCR). “With the support of longtime, valuable partners like Catholic Charities, HCR, HPD and Richman Housing Resources, underutilized faith-based land has been repurposed to meet a critical need at a time when thousands of affordable housing units are lost each year. Together, we’re helping to keep the Ocean Hill community affordable and ensure that 64 individuals and families continue to live in their neighborhood.”
“After much anticipation by families in need of low-income-housing in Ocean Hill Brooklyn, we are pleased to celebrate the grand opening of these much-needed affordable housing apartments for families,” said Monsignor Alfred LoPinto, Vicar for Human Services, Diocese of Brooklyn. “The need for affordable housing in New York City is overwhelming and with this newly constructed development, Catholic Charities upholds our commitment to providing low-income families with the highest quality housing and services in their own neighborhood.”
“A safe, affordable home is essential to providing stability to the most vulnerable in our society. For low-income families, individuals, older adults and the formerly homeless in New York City, we are pleased to be able to offer a fresh new start and hope for the future,” said Robert Siebel, Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens. “Providing and preserving affordable housing is one of the cornerstones of our mission and we are committed to do whatever we can do to provide for those in need. We are grateful to our partners CPC Resources, Inc., The Community Preservation Corporation, The New York City Department of Preservation and Development, New York State Homes and Community Renewal and Richman Housing Resources for their support of affordable housing.”
Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens is one of the largest faith-based providers of affordable housing for low-income individuals, seniors, families and special needs populations in New York City, having developed over 3,500 units of affordable housing throughout Brooklyn and Queens.
Located at 2354-2358 and 2372-2374 Atlantic Avenue, and 2353-2365 Pacific Street, Catholic Charities Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments is comprised of eight separate four-story buildings. Utilizing CPCR’s highly successful “Infill Housing Prototype” design, the apartments have transformed underutilized, scattered sites into sound housing, a need which is increasingly important in a land-scarce city like New York. Conceived by RKT&B Architects and developed in conjunction with CPCR, the “Infill Housing Prototype” is inspired by New York City’s brownstone walk-ups and applies energy-efficient techniques, including Energy Star appliances and highly efficient heating and air conditioning systems.
“Grazie mille to our friends at Catholic Charities, as well as HPD, HCR, CPCR, CPC, Richman Housing Resources, Chase Bank and the Diocese of Brooklyn, for once again delivering on their commitment to provide energy-efficient affordable housing for some of Brooklyn’s communities in greatest need. Too many borough residents leave because they can no longer afford to live in Brooklyn. With the great demand for affordable housing, every attempt should be made to provide these opportunities and to work on making them affordable forever. The residents of Catholic Charities Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments will be a wonderful addition to the richness of Ocean Hill-Brownsville,” noted Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
The eight buildings have a total of 64 apartments, with the units split evenly between one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. Amenities include a community room with kitchen for use by residents, and laundry facilities. All units are air conditioned. Monthly rents will range from $494 to $860 with eight units receiving project-based Section 8 rent subsidies allocated by HCR. These units are reserved for very low income tenants earning no more than 60% Area Median Income (AMI), which is no more than an annual income of $36,120 for an individual. AMI levels are calculated annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
A portion of the total apartments in this development were reserved for families on the HCR waitlist and the remainders were filled through an HPD-supervised housing lottery. The City of New York requires that subsidized apartments be rented or sold through an open lottery system to ensure fair and equitable distribution of housing to eligible applicants. The lottery for this development has closed. Marketing of the apartments and the application process for the lottery typically begin when construction is approximately 70 percent complete. For more information regarding the lottery process and to apply to city-sponsored housing lotteries, visit NYC Housing Connect at www.nyc.gov/housingconnect. NYC Housing Connect lets New Yorkers to fill out a single online profile that can be saved and edited, and used to apply to multiple new affordable housing lotteries. People who submit a profile will also be notified via email when new lotteries are posted to the Housing Connect site. You can also click on the name of the lottery/development for instructions on how to apply by mail. Applicants may only apply once per development. Applicants may not submit both a paper application and a web application for the same project. Duplicate applications will be disqualified.
Financing for Catholic Charities Monsignor Anthony J. Barretta Apartments was the result of extensive partnerships with housing officials both in New York City and State. The total development cost for this project is $17.9 million. CPC and HPD provided the initial $11.14 million construction loan and Richman Housing Resources provided approximately $5 million in equity during construction. Richman Housing Resources will provide a total of $12.4 million in equity; additional permanent sources of financing include a $1.6 million loan from New York State Housing Trust Fund and a $3.8 million loan from HPD.
”Anyone can do the easy, plain-vanilla development,” said Bill Traylor, President of Richman Housing Resources. “Not every developer can do the types of developments that transform derelict sites into community assets that become a genuine spark for community revitalization,” Mr. Traylor continued; “Monsignor Barretta Apartments is just such the spark that Ocean Hill-Brownsville needs and deserves and CPCR and Catholic Charities are the right developers to bring it to market.”
“RKT&B has designed five ‘Infill Housing’ sites representing 184 apartments since the inception of the CPCR Infill Housing Prototype program in 1997,” said RKT&B’s president, Carmi Bee, FAIA. “The Infill model was conceived as a strategy for delivering affordable housing through design efficiencies possible under the existing building codes and zoning laws; as a means for renewing streetscapes and neighborhoods through the filling in of vacant lots; and as a way of creating a passive security system by lighting up the street at night and putting eyes on the street from the glazed stair towers.”
Contact: Lisa Aldape, AVP of Communications
212-869-5300, ext. 632 laldape (at) communityp (dot) com
