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MAP: See Where Hundreds of Affordable Housing Units Are Coming to NYC

By Eddie Small | August 25, 2014 8:41am | Updated on August 29, 2014 3:34pm
 One of the developments the $350 million fund is financing is an 11-unit building at 755 Dawson St.
One of the developments the $350 million fund is financing is an 11-unit building at 755 Dawson St.
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DNAinfo/Eddie Small

NEW YORK CITY — Thousands of new affordable housing units are set to come to the city as part of a new $350 million fund meant to rehab thousands of apartments throughout the state.

The 4,000 units are also part of the de Blasio administration’s Housing New York plan, a $41 billion, 10-year plan to build or preserve 200,000 affordable apartments throughout the city.

Most of the nearly 500 apartments in 27 buildings that are the first to be renovated are concentrated in Brooklyn, which has 14, mainly in Bushwick, and The Bronx, which has seven. Several others are in Upper Manhattan and Jamaica.

Some of the units are already occupied, but it was not clear what percentage.

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Renovations will include new kitchens and baths and energy efficiency upgrades at all three buildings in the 170 Ogden project in the South Bronx.

One of the biggest projects is set to bring 90 units to 1548-1564 Bergen St., in Crown Heights, a $9.1 million project.

Another large project is 1259-1269 College Ave., in Morrisania, which has 63 residential units and is receiving about $4.8 million.

The initiative stems from a partnership between Mayor Bill de Blasio, Comptroller Scott Stringer, the affordable housing finance group Community Preservation Corporation, Citi and others.

It was announced late last month and will be used to create and preserve about 7,500 units of affordable around the state.

"This financing will mean more shovels in the ground and more New Yorkers protected from soaring rents," de Blasio said in a statement.

Average rents in the buildings will range from about $570 per month to about $1,650 per month, but costs would vary within each development, according to Robert Riggs, senior vice president and regional director of CPC's New York City and Long Island region.

"In every case, those rents should be below market, if not substantially below market," he said.

Specific income requirements for the developments have not been finalized yet but will range from between 50 to 160 percent of the Area Median Income depending on the project and unit.

AMI for a family of four in New York City in 2014 is $83,900, meaning families living in most units would not be able to make more than $41,950 to $134,240, according to CPC. However, these numbers may shift in the future.

CPC has consistently worked with small properties that have fewer than 50 units, and its typical loan size is about $2 million.

The corporation's niche is smaller affordable housing projects that larger lending companies would tend to ignore, according to Riggs.

"A small deal for them is a big deal for us," he said.

CPC anticipates spending between $100 and $150 million of the fund per year to finance similar projects to the ones that have already closed, meaning the fund would be dispersed over three years, said Riggs.

"We have set out the most ambitious affordable housing plan of any city in the nation," de Blasio said in a statement, "and today we can say that's a goal both the public and private sector are putting their muscle behind."