$75M Affordable Community Opens in Brooklyn
Located in the Brownsville neighborhood, the development is part of the state’s $20 billion housing initiative.
Edwin’s Place. Image courtesy of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Office
Developers Breaking Ground and African American Planning Commission Inc. have opened Edwin’s Place, a 125-unit affordable community in Brooklyn. Robert A.M. Stern Architects designed the $75 million supportive and affordable housing development.
Located within Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood at 7 Livonia Ave., the eight-story building provides studios and one- to three-bedroom apartments. Floorplans range from 300 to 1,100 square feet.
Eighty-eight units are reserved for veterans as well as people that have experienced homelessness, while the remaining units are available for low-income residents. The community includes a sunken courtyard, a fitness center, a multipurpose room and laundry facilities.
Edwin’s Place features a 3,000-square-foot ground-floor retail space home to Power of Two, a nonprofit working with families through the evidence-based Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up parent coaching approach. Residents of the building have access to on-site social services funded by a contract between the African American Planning Commission Inc. and New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The community is within 3 miles of Prospect Park and Kings County Hospital Center, while downtown Brooklyn is 5 miles northwest.
Funding the development
The New York State Homes and Community Renewal provided $31.5 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, $11.7 million in tax-exempt bonds and nearly $9.5 million in subsidy.
The developers also received $10.7 million from The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development through the agency’s Supportive Housing Loan Program. Additional state support came from the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance via its Homeless Housing Assistance Program.
The project marks Breaking Ground’s seventh building in the borough. Earlier in July, the developer partnered with Empire State Development Corp. and HCR to bring 900 units of affordable housing to Brooklyn.
Edwin’s Place is part of the State’s $20 billion, five-year Housing Plan, which complements the Vital Brooklyn initiative, a $1.4 billion community development program aimed at lessening the social, economic and health inequalities across the borough.
