BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A stretch of Section 8 housing in Bed-Stuy received an $18.5 million upgrade, affordable housing advocates said.
The 270 Pulaski St. Apartments — also known as CABS Housing, after its developers the Consumer Action Program of Bedford-Stuyvesant — is 66 units and six stories of Bed-Stuy affordable housing built in the 1970s.
The money will go to refinancing the building, as well as to replace the plumbing and electrical systems, renovate all of the apartment interiors, remodel the entrance, add handicapped access, add a new laundry room and create a new community garden, organizers from CABS and developer St. Nick's Alliance said.
Developers also increased the number of units from 66 to 72 units, organizers said.
"For those of us who were here 43 years ago," CABS Executive Director Adolfo Alayon said on Thursday, "it's really a vindication of our belief in this building. In this community."
Of the $18.5 million, $9.2 million came in the form of tax-exempt bonds from the city's Housing Development Corporation, along with private funding secured by the city's New Housing Marketplace Plan.
The building was originally designed in 1970, as a way to provide affordable housing to people living in Brooklyn.
But as real estate prices have grown, affordable housing in the neighborhood has become more importat, organizers said. A July 2013 report from MNS Real Estate listed the average price for a one-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood at $1,764.
"It is rewarding on many levels to know that together, we have breathed new life into this development," HDC President Marc Jahr said in a statement, "and in improving tenants' living conditions, we have acted to preserve and stabilize the neighborhood."