JV Completes Overhaul of Affordable Project

BROOKLYN, NY-This East New York neighborhood of this borough has retained nearly 600 units of affordable housing, thanks to a recently completed renovation and preservation program. The $52-million Spring Creek redevelopment is a joint venture of Domain Cos. and Arker Cos.

The firms specialize in community development and mixed-income projects. “Opportunities to preserve affordable housing in New York City are very few and far between. Market pressures have been causing a lot of owners or developers to opt their projects out of the affordable housing programs,” explains Matt Schwartz, principal of the Domain Cos. Spring Creek was attractive, he says, because it was “in an area where we saw a lot of long-term potential given the amount of development taking place and investment going into the area.”

When Domain and Arker bought the nearly 20-year-old community in late 2006, the affordable programs used to develop the property had reached the end of their regulatory period. The asset was also in need of significant upgrades due to deferred maintenance issues. “We saw this as an opportunity to take this complex and present it to the state and city agencies that provide funding for affordable housing and try to come up with a plan to preserve the complex while addressing all of the serious issues it faced,” says Schwartz.