NEW YORK CITY-Honoring excellence in construction, design and development, the Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center for Workforce Housing has recognized two multifamily buildings in Harlem and Brooklyn at an awards gala in Washington, DC on Wednesday evening. Columbia Hicks LLC’s and L+M Development Partners’ six-story Columbia Hicks complex in Cobble Hill and Jonathan Rose Cos. and Lettire Construction’s mixed-income Tapestry project in East Harlem were among the winners of the 2011 Jack Kemp Models of Excellence Awards.
The event, held in memory of Jack Kemp, the late HUD secretary and member of US Congress, honors workforce housing developments that involve innovate financing, strong public/private partnerships, unique construction and affordability. Four sites out of 27 submissions were chosen on a nationwide-basis.
“The one thing that distinguishes them a little bit more from years before is more emphasis on design,” says Richard M. Rosan, president of the ULI Foundation, who toured each site and interviewed all stakeholders involved. “They are fantastic because they have been able to use various ways of making the projects work financially so they can create new workforce housing,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “And they are complicated deals, each one of them.”
Out of the four, Tapestry--one of the leading developments in the city’s comprehensive river-to-river rezoning of Harlem’s 125th Street corridor--showcased how sustainable features and mixed-income units can blend together. “There is a real example of doing the right thing, and when you do the right thing, it makes your approvals easier and it makes your financing easier,” Jonathan Rose, president of Jonathan Rose Cos., tells GlobeSt.com. He notes that the 186-unit project utilized New York’s 50/30/20 program, where 50% of the apartments are market-rate, 30% are moderate income and 20% are affordable. “It is a model for how to mix incomes,” he says, adding that it was East Harlem’s first mixed building to receive a gold certification under the US Green Building Council’s LEED program.
And despite being developed during the economic downturn, the strength of the building’s amenities and financial diversity helped carry it through the public approval process, Rose explained. The joint venture arranged a combination of credit enhanced tax-exempt bonds, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and additional subsidized mortgage financing through the city’s Housing Development Corporation and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
“Because we had a Freddie Mac loan guarantee, and because of the 50/30/20 structure, with the combination of the city subsidies, the housing tax credits, it was such a rock solid financing, that even in the midst of the crisis, we closed,” Rose says.
Located at 245 East 124th St. at the foot of the RFK Bridge, the site was once home to a vacant lot and a temporary storage facility. Now, the building--now 96% occupied--is helping the neighborhood regain its status as a commercial and cultural corridor. “It is really is the gateway to Manhattan,” Rose says.
On the Brooklyn side, the Columbia Hicks project also involved various financing methods and unique challenges. The building, located in the Columbia Street Historic District near Cobble Hill, has a blend of for-sale and rental units. Of the 95 rental units in the development, 39 serve households making less than 80% of the area’s median income (AMI); ten serve those with incomes up to 130% of AMI; and the remaining 46 are reserved for households with incomes up to 160% of AMI, according to ULI.
The project received a combination of subsidies from the city’s HPD and the Department of Housing Preservation, taxable bonds, a reduction in the upfront mortgage recording tax, and a 25-year tax abatement. The workforce units also benefited from state tax credits. “The Columbia one is especially complicated because there were condominiums and rentals, but they made it all work,” Rosan says.
Other winners included The Hayes at Railroad Square in Boston and a 268-unit mixed-use complex called “On the Park” in Seattle.
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