NEW YORK CITY-Properties once hindered by the credit crisis--like a stalled market-rate condominium project at 23-10 41st Avenue in Long Island City, Queens--is now getting a major overhaul. Under the Housing Asset Renewal Program (HARP) of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development, local officials announced on Monday that the formerly stalled site will be transformed into Queensboro, a 117-unit apartment complex targeted toward middle-income New York families.
The property is the second to be revamped under HARP, a $20 million pilot program administered by the city’s HPD, which focuses on turning newly-completed projects that are vacant and projects that have stalled mid-construction into affordable housing opportunities. The project’s new developer, Queensboro Development LLC, has received a $20.5 million loan for the redevelopment of the site through lender Bank of America Merrill Lynch, while the city will provide a $7.63 million low-interest construction and permanent loan, totaling $28.13 million altogether.
Out of the 117 units proposed, 108 will be made affordable. Of these subsidized rentals, 17 of the units will have rents affordable to households earning 100% of the Area Median Income (AMI), which equals $79,200 for a family of four in the borough, while 91 units will have rents affordable to a household earning 130% of the AMI, which is $102,960 for a family of four, according to the HPD. The property will also contain approximately 16,481 square feet of retail and 30 parking spaces. It will be complete in spring 2013.
“The Queensboro development is a perfect example of how our HARP program is really a win-win for New York City,” says City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, in a statement. Quinn proposed HARP in her 2009 State of the City Address. “It’s a win for residents of Long Island City, who will no longer have to deal with the negative impact of a stalled construction site in their neighborhoods.”
According to a property record from Real Capital Analytics, AM Holding of NY Corp. of Bayside, NY acquired the site for redevelopment in September 2005. After spending a total of $9.7 million on the original condo project--including acquisition, demolition, excavation and pre-development costs--the project stalled, and was sold to Queensboro Development LLC for $6.4 million in June 2009, says the HPD.
HPD Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua says that given the pace of development in the neighborhood, the demand for affordable housing is on the rise. “HPD’s efforts,” he says, in a statement, “have pushed this site back into active development, creating jobs and eventually affordable housing that keep this neighborhood growing while promoting continued economic diversity.”
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