NEW YORK CITY-An East Harlem housing complex will be preserved as affordable for the next 40 years, GlobeSt.com has learned. Preservation Development Partners, a joint venture of developers Donald Capoccia, Joseph Ferrara, Brandon Baron, Francine Kellman and Brian Raddock, completed the rehabilitation of East River Apartments, a 179-unit multifamily apartment complex in Upper Manhattan.

The apartment complex, located at 109-125 E. 130^th Street, consists of five elevator-equipped buildings. According to data from Real Capital Analytics, Preservation Partners acquired the complex in January 2012 from seller Tricham Housing Associates LP for $36 million.

Kellman tells GlobeSt.com that the seller at the time was looking to sell to a regular rental operation, and that would have taken the property out of Section 8. “It’s very important to us to try and preserve as much Section 8 in the city as we can,” she says. “So much of it has been lost, especially in Manhattan. A lot of the properties several years ago went out of Section 8 and took advantage of the high prices, so there really isn’t too much left. It was really important for us to maintain the affordability, stabilize the community and stabilize the property. It is a living, breathing entity, these buildings, and that’s the way we look at it. We work with the tenants, we work with the surrounding area, we work with the nonprofits and with government as well.”