Clipper Equity’s Flatbush Gardens Lands $329M Refi
New York Community Bank provided the REIT with the 12-year note for one of Brooklyn’s largest affordable housing assets.
Clipper Equity has taken a $329 million refinancing package for Flatbush Gardens, the REIT’s 2,498-unit affordable housing property in Brooklyn, according to public records. New York Community Bank’s 12-year loan pays down a prior, $246 million mortgage from early 2018 and provides an additional $83 million in capital to the owner. The new note bears interest at 3.13 percent and features interest-only payments for the first seven years.
Located at 1403 New York Ave. in the East Flatbush neighborhood, the fully affordable community last changed hands in October 2005 for $138.2 million, according to Yardi Matrix data. LACERA was the seller in that transaction.
Opened in 1950, the community is one of the largest affordable properties in Brooklyn. The asset has a unit mix of studio and one- to three-bedroom apartments, with floorplans ranging from 400 to 950 square feet. Its 22 buildings are situated on a 21-acre site southeast of the Newkirk Avenue subway station. Residents have access to laundry facilities, a playground and subterranean parking.
Although Brooklyn, like the rest of the city, continues to feel the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, affordability concerns endure. Even though a majority of the borough’s construction has halted, development of low-income housing has carried on, deemed essential by Governor Cuomo. At the end of April, developer Breaking Ground moved forward on a plan to convert a hotel into a 508-unit affordable project in the DUMBO neighborhood.