A New York non-profit housing developer has arranged $304 million in construction financing for two significant New York City projects.
Phipps Houses has closed on $116 million in construction financing for Rockaway Village in Far Rockaway and $188 million for Lambert Houses in West Farms, Crain’s New York Business reported on Jan. 6. Combined, the two projects will bring more than 3,000 units of affordable housing to the city.
NYC’s Housing Development Corp., Citi bank and the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development is funding the Far Rockaway project, which is turning an abandoned shopping center into a complex including retail and public space. The $116 million is for the fourth of five phases in the development.
Construction will start this month (January) for the development’s Phase four, and this stage of the project is expected to be concluded by early 2024.
Overall, the Rockaway Village complex will include eight buildings with about 1,700 affordable housing units and 120,000 sq. ft. of commercial and community space, Crain’s reported.
Meanwhile, the $188 million received for Lambert Houses’ redevelopment will be used for the project’s second phase: a 16-story, 279-unit building at 2080 Boston Rd. “HPD, HDC and Citi provided this financing as well, as did Goldman Sachs” Crain’s reported. “The building will include 42 units for the homeless, and construction is expected to start in January and end in mid-2024.”
Phipps says the overall $600 million Lambert House redevelopment will take about 15 years over five phases, updating and resolving problems with the complex originally constructed in the 1970s.
“The redevelopment of the Lambert Houses complex is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to correct the flaws of the urban renewal era and create better community connections and services for our residents,” Phipps Houses president and CEO Adam Weinstein said in a statement.
