Douglaston JV Secures Construction Debt for NYC Community
Two city agencies provided $106 million in financing for the project.
A joint venture between Douglaston Development and the Entertainment Community Fund has landed financial backing for a fully-affordable community in Manhattan. The New York City Housing Development Corporation and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development provided the combined $106 million in senior recycled tax-exempt bond funded loans and subsidy loans for the joint venture’s Rialto West project.
When completed, the eight-story Rialto West will offer 158 permanent-affordable units in studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts. These units will be reserved for households making up to 140 percent AMI, while 15 percent of those units will be further reserved for formerly homeless tenants. The 140,000-square-foot community’s amenities will include a fitness center, laundry room and bicycle storage area.
Rialto West will also be home to more than 5,500 square feet of cultural space on the ground floor. The developers have been in talks with Indie Space to lease and operate this portion of the building as rehearsal and coworking spaces aimed at attracting local artists. Located at 509 W. 48th St., Rialto West will be across the street from an approximately 25,000-square-foot public plaza at 705 10th Ave. that Douglaston is also developing.
With funding secured, Douglaston is planning to start construction on the project later this month, with a scheduled completion date of 2026. The project dates back to 2018, when HPD first issued a public request for proposal to develop these two sites in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. Douglaston was awarded the sites in February 2019 and the project completed its ULURP process in October 2022, a process that reviews the project’s land use impact in New York City.
The developers tapped Levine Builders, the general contracting affiliate of Douglaston, to construct the residential building and the adjacent public plaza. The project team also includes Clinton Management, the management affiliate of Douglaston, which will be tasked with property management once Rialto West is completed.
More than affordable housing
With Rialto West, Douglaston will add another affordable housing community to its New York City portfolio. Last year, the company opened 2850 Webster Ave. in the Bronx, adding 188 units of senior affordable housing to the market. Douglaston is also part of a diverse project team looking to redevelop the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center in Brooklyn’s East Flatbush neighborhood into affordable, supportive and senior housing.
Besides its affordable housing projects, the company’s portfolio includes mixed-use developments, high-rise rentals with mixed-income units and market-rate condos. In August 2022, Douglaston started leasing at 3Eleven, a 938-unit community that is one of the largest residential towers in the city. Douglaston, which is based in New York, also owns properties in Arizona and Washington.