116 deeply affordable homes coming to city-owned Prospect Heights site
All images courtesy of HPD
A project that will bring affordable apartments and a community garden to Prospect Heights is underway. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) last week selected Apex Building Group and Bridge Street Development Corporation to convert a 17,000-square-foot HPD satellite office at 516 Bergen Street into a 116-unit affordable housing development known as “Bergen Green.” The project falls under the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan (AAMUP), which in combination with the nearby redevelopment of a Dean Street parking lot, will bring roughly 270 affordable homes to Prospect Heights.
“This is an important step forward for Central Brooklyn and for our whole city as we work to create the housing that New Yorkers need,” Dan Garodnick, Director of the Department of City Planning and Chair of the City Planning Commission, said. “Bergen Green will deliver on an important community priority from our Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan engagement and shows how the Adams administration is using public land for public good.”
Designed by Rodney Leon Architect, Bergen Green will feature more than 4,000 square feet of multi-purpose community facility space, including a double-height amphitheater named in honor of George Floyd. The community spaces will serve as spaces where local non-profit, community-based, and cultural arts organizations can provide supportive services and host cultural exhibitions.
The development will also include a landscaped outdoor garden and landscaped terraces designed by Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape.
Indoor amenities will include recreation rooms, a wellness center for yoga, meditation, and aerobic exercises, a gym, bike storage, and laundry rooms on every floor. On-site case management services for formerly homeless households will be provided by Bridge Street.
Bergen Green will replace a 17,000-square-foot city-owned site that currently houses a satellite office for HPD’s Emergency Repair Program.
Bergen Green will offer affordable apartments for households earning no more than 80 percent of the area median income, with 15 percent of units set aside for formerly homeless New Yorkers.
According to the city, the developer is taking into account the needs and goals of residents documented through a community visioning report. Based on feedback from the community, the majority of the homes will be two- and three-bedroom units to accommodate families.
In August, HPD selected a proposal for 542 Dean Street, another redevelopment project included in the AAMUP. The project is turning a city-owned parking lot into roughly 154 affordable housing units for low-income and formerly homeless seniors. The project, called “Park Edge” for its proximity to Dean Playground, is being led by Jobe Development, Mega Group Development, and the Institute for Community Living.
Both Bergen Street and Dean Street projects fall under Mayor Eric Adams’ “24 in 24” plan, which hopes to advance two dozen affordable housing projects on public land this year to ultimately create or preserve over 12,000 affordable apartments.
Other projects under the 24 in 24 plan include turning a parking lot in Inwood into 570 affordable homes, public green space, and a STEM facility. On Monday, the city asked for proposals for a vacant lot in Crotona Park East in the Bronx to become affordable housing with community amenities.
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this is what newyorkers definitely need, and especially in that better off neighborhood, I hope they can build more truly affordable housing in these better off neighborhoods, from the park and south slope, downtown Brooklyn, Gowanus, Windsor terrace, prospect heights, and crown heights that area that area from Nostrand ave to Washington ave
This will help people like me find independent living
will this be turned over to the migrants also, at the expense of New Yorkers, as everything else has been?? as the rent vouchers have been?? or will New Yorkers be included in this ??