"NAI meet our three goals," says AFL-CIO president John J. Sweeney. "To invest pension funds in solid projects; to create badly needed housing in urban areas and to create union jobs. This will help take the edge off of the bad employment situation."

NAI's first investment is a commitment to provide $34.9 million in funding for the development of The Estates at Kew Gardens Hills, a $105 million mixed-income multifamily project in Queens. This equity joint venture with The Dermot Company will develop a 12-story, 521,500 sf structure containing a parking garage, 10,000 sf of community space, and 388 units of housing. Of these units, 78 units will be set-aside for low-income families. Work on Kew Gardens is expected to be completed in May 2005.

"Without this funding, this complex would not have had an affordable housing component," says Carlton Arrendell, chief investment officer for the AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corp.