New Affordable Housing Opens in Bed-Stuy

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

New York—Madison Putnam, a new 48-unit affordable housing development in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, N.Y., has opened. The property, built on seven previously vacant, city-owned lots, consists of 13 one-bedroom, 27 two-bedroom, and seven three-bedroom rental apartments among seven buildings.

The developers are CPC Resources (CPCR) and East Brooklyn Congregations. The project was designed by RKT&B Architects using CPCR’s infill housing prototype—one that’s designed specifically to fit R-6 zoning, which is prevalent in residential neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The buildings are four-story walk-ups with floor-through apartments. Each building has access to a rear garden reserved for residents’ use.

Madison Putnam is affordable to families below 60 percent of the area median income, or $49,800 for a family of four. In addition, 10 units will be affordable to families below 40 percent AMI, or $32,040 for a family of four.

Madison Putnam was created under the city’s New Housing Marketplace Plan. The plan is an initiative to finance 165,000 units of affordable housing for half a million New Yorkers by the close of FY 2014. For every dollar invested by the city, the plan has thus far leveraged $3.41 in private funding, amounting to a total commitment to date of more than $19.4 billion to fund the creation or preservation of over 131,360 units of affordable housing across the five boroughs. More than 31,414 units have been financed in Brooklyn.

The project was completed with a complex mix of financial support, a spokeswoman for CPC Resources tells MHN, including the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the State of New York Mortgage Agency. Financing for Madison Putnam includes a $1.74 million conventional first mortgage and $8.24 million bridge loan construction mortgage from PNC Bank.

Also, the project received a $1.7 million permanent loan from the New York City Pension Fund, which will go to the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York and the New York City Police Pension Fund upon delivery, and is insured by SONYMA. In addition, HPD provided $1.8 million in subsidy and has allocated 9 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credits for the project, valued at $11.6 million; PNC Bank served as the tax credit investor.