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Residents Move into Sugar Hill Affordable Housing Development

By Gustavo Solis | November 21, 2014 5:47pm | Updated on November 24, 2014 8:49am
 Residents moved into the Sugar Hill Development on 414 West 115th St. Friday.
Sugar Hill
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HARLEM — It may look like a prison to some, but for the residents just moving into the Sugar Hill Development, an affordable housing complex on West 155th Street, it's now home.

“To me it’s beautiful because I get to live here,” said Ana Hernandez, 50, who moved into 414 West 155th St. earlier this month. “I was so happy when I found out I got a place here.”

Sugar Hill has 124 affordable housing units, a pre-k center and a children’s art museum. Broadway Housing Communities, the nonprofit developer behind the building, held a ribbon cutting ceremony Friday afternoon.

More than 48,000 people applied to live in the $80 million complex, a number that Community Board 9 chair Rev. Georgette Morgan-Thomas said underscores the dire need for affordable housing in the neighborhood.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, while not at the ribbon cutting, has previously lauded the development as a step in the right direction towards his goal of creating 200,000 affordable housing units in the next decade.

“It was a fantastic day when everyone was able to see their apartments for the first time,” said Ellen Baxter of Broadway Housing Communities. “Affordable housing can be beautiful.”

The price of the units vary from $360 dollar a month studios to $1,550 for a three bedroom, she added.

The childhood center, which offers universal pre-k, has a capacity for 200 students. There are about 50 currently enrolled in the program.

The children’s art museum will not be open until next Spring, Baxter said.