Brownsville, Brooklyn is set to debut a new affordable multifamily community on Wednesday after completing a $118 million project.
In May 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul first announced the plans for Bridge Rockaway in Brownsville, an initiative to build 174 affordable apartments, with 87 getting reserved for veterans and seniors experiencing homelessness. It was a part of the Democrat’s five-year $25 billion plan.
Bridge Rockaway is a part of the Brownsville Industrial Center development, which features 39,000 square feet of light industrial space on the ground floor, and 2,000 SF of community space. The location at Rockaway Avenue and Newport Street reimagines the U-Bet Chocolate Syrup factory.
The 174 apartments will be available to those earning 70 percent of the median area income or less.
The Bridge, Mega Development, and Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center were a part of the development team for Brownsville Industrial Center. They will be represented in cutting the ribbon on Wednesday at 203 Newport Street.
“The project is expected to become a citywide and national model for increasing affordable housing on underutilized property while maintaining manufacturing use,” Greenpoint and Design said in a statement.
Hochul’s $25 billion plan aims to preserve and create 100,000 affordable homes throughout New York. The Governor announced earlier this year that more than 40,000 homes had been built since revealing her Fiscal Year 2023 budget. However, the state may need to pick up the pace. The Regional Plan Association projects New York City alone will need 473,000 more housing units by 2032 to meet the demand, according to Forbes.
For July, New York was the top multifamily market for starts, with 30,618 units permitted, an analysis by RealPage of the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development shows. That was up about 20% from the same month a year ago, and up more than 5% from June.