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Senior Housing in Bed-Stuy Will Undergo $6M Upgrade

 CABS Senior Housing will get a $5.84 million upgrade, according to documents and sources.
CABS Senior Housing Upgrade
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BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A 30-year-old nonprofit senior residence in Bed-Stuy is about to undergo a nearly $6 million upgrade, according to documents and sources.

Renovation of the CABS Senior Housing development, a seven-story, 111-unit building at 590 DeKalb Ave., will be funded through a limited partnership with investors, an attorney for the Consumer Action Program of Bedford-Stuyvesant said.

The $5.84 million project will include a new facade near the building's entrance and a new courtyard configured to be "more inviting," with "a curved wooden bench," according to a work report from NOMAD Architecture, the firm tapped to do the upgrades.

The 70,000-square-foot building will also see a new roof, new plumbing, new windows and new flooring, among other upgrades, according to the report.

"It's a major redevelopment," said CABS Executive Director Adolfo Alayon. "It needs to be refurbished."

In order to raise funds for the project, Alayon sold the building to a new limited partnership called CABS Senior Housing LP for $9.8 million, part of which will go towards paying off a mortgage with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to documents filed in Brooklyn Civil Supreme Court.

Under the terms of the limited partnership, Alayon will share ownership with a group of investors that has limited powers of ownership, CABS' attorney Curtis Wood said.

In return for their investment, the limited partners will receive a low income housing tax credit from the government, Wood said. 

While the limited partners do not have control of day-to-day operations, they can replace the general partner — Alayon — if they see fit, according to Wood.

But Alayon said the purpose of the deal was to refinance, not sell off the building.

"We're not divesting ourselves of the property, it's just refinancing," Alayon said. "We're selling it to ourselves, so that the project is owned by CABS and the tax credit investors."

In addition to senior housing, CABS controls a number of other services in Brooklyn, including a nursing home at 270 Nostrand Ave., a long-term health program at 545 Broadway and a housekeeper service 44 Varet St.

They've also helped develop affordable housing in the borough, like the 270 Pulaski St. Apartments, a stretch of Section 8 housing in Bed-Stuy which itself finished an $18.5 million renovation last summer.

The senior housing development on DeKalb would continue to be used solely for housing low-income seniors, Alayon said.

"We're trying to ensure that the it remains an affordable project for the elderly," he said.