Rendering of Edwin’s Place via Robert A.M. Stern Architects

To live in one of Robert A.M. Stern’s buildings usually costs many millions, but his firm is responsible for this attractive new affordable housing development in Brownsville. Located at 7 Livonia Avenue, the 125-unit project called Edwin’s Place received approvals in late 2017. And now, a lottery has come online for 37 units, a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedrooms ranging from $666 to $1,279 a month and available to New Yorkers earning 40, 50, or 60 percent of the area median income. These units, 40 percent of the total, are reserved for the public; the other 60 percent is set aside as supportive housing for low-income or formerly homeless individuals (eight units are set aside for veterans).

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Ebenezer Plaza under construction in 2018; Map data © 2020 Google

Nearly 200 affordable apartments are up for grabs at a new rental building in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. A housing lottery launched on Thursday for 176 units at 672 Powell Street, which is part of the massive Ebenezer Plaza project that will bring four towers to two sites on the block. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 30, 40, 50, and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, which range from $367/month studios to $1,472/month three-bedrooms.

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Photo by DanTD via Wikimedia Commons

One- and two-person households earning 50 or 60 percent of the area median income (between $21,978 and $51,240 annually) can now apply for 20 affordable studios at 212 Hegeman Avenue, a newly constructed, 71-unit rental in Brownsville. Sixty percent of the units are set aside as supportive housing for formerly homeless and disabled New Yorkers, while 29 percent are open to the public. Residents can take advantage of on-site social services, a computer lab, landscaped rear yard, and laundry room.

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Rendering courtesy of NYC HPD

A lottery opened this week for 41 affordable apartments in a newly constructed building in eastern Brooklyn. Located at 463 Livonia Avenue, the site is part of the city’s Livonia Avenue Initiative, a program aimed at revitalizing the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York and Brownsville. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 40, 50, and 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, which range from a $590/month one-bedroom to a $1,449/per month three-bedroom apartment.

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Rockaway Avenue subway station in Brownsville. Image via Wikimedia cc.

Car hire company Lyft has announced that it will expand its Grocery Access Program to New York City. The program, first launched in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, aims to provide access to healthy foods to residents who don’t live near full-service grocery stores and farmers markets. Lyft, in partnership with GrowNYC and BMS Family Health and Wellness Centers, will launch the program in NYC by improving access to healthy food options for low-income residents in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

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Google Street View of Atlantic Plaza Apartments

Residents at a 700-unit rent-stabilized complex in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn have expressed concern over their landlord’s plan to install facial recognition technology at the building’s entrance. Tenants at Atlantic Plaza Towers filed an objection with the state’s Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) agency, which oversees rent-regulated properties, in January, after learning that Nelson Management, their landlord, was seeking state approval to install StoneLock, a facial recognition system, Gothamist reports. Tenants and housing rights attorneys have expressed concerns over the far-reaching possibilities involved in this new method of digital surveillance.

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A proposal to revitalize Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood was announced one year ago, with a plan to bring a seven-building housing development to the area unveiled last month. And on Thursday, city officials released more details about the massive project, with new renderings and updates on its progress. As part of the Brownsville Plan, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development will bring a new arts center and school run by a group from the Brooklyn Music School and a media lab run by BRIC, new retail and commercial space, and a rooftop greenhouse with locally sourced produce. Plus, two proposals were selected as the NYCx Co-Lab Challenge winners, a competition that sought to find ways to enhance the area’s “nighttime experience.”

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Rendering via L+M and Curtis+Ginsberg Architects

Plans for a seven-building affordable housing development in Brooklyn’s Brownsville were released this week, as part of the city’s revitalization effort in the neighborhood. As part of the “Brownsville Plan,” the proposed project includes eight-to nine-story residential buildings with new retail and community space along Livonia Avenue. The project would extend the existing Marcus Garvey Apartments, a housing complex built in the mid-1970s that currently has many underutilized parking lots (h/t YIMBY). Overall, the more than 900,000-square-foot development will bring over 840 affordable apartments, currently estimated to be set aside for New Yorkers earning 80 percent or below the area median income.

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Image: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

An announcement Tuesday by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) gave lower-income New Yorkers lots to look forward to–literally. HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer announced that nine development teams would be creating 490 affordable apartments and homeownership opportunities on 87 vacant lots through the department’s New Infill Homeownership Opportunities Program (NIHOP) and Neighborhood Construction Program (NCP). The programs were designed specifically to unlock the potential of vacant lots long considered too small or irregular for traditional housing with innovative smaller homes, and develop more affordable housing on lots long used for parking at existing housing complexes. This latest round of development is the third and final in a series: The program has already seen the construction of over 600 affordable homes on 81 lots.

‘No site has gone overlooked’

Rendering of Edwin’s Place via Robert AM Stern Architects

The New York City Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a proposal for 125 affordable units designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects at 3 Livonia Avenue in Brownsville. The proposed Brooklyn development, called Edwin’s Place, would feature an eight-story building with 69 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units and 56 studios. Edwin’s Place is being developed by nonprofit partners Breaking Ground and the African American Planning Commission, Inc. The proposal, which won approval from Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Community Board 16, will move on to the City Council for a final review.

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