NYC Names 3 Development Teams for Co-Living Pilot
The projects announced as part of the city's ShareNYC program will produce a total of 300 new units at three locations.
L+M Development and Common will construct a shared living building in East Harlem. Rendering courtesy of Common
Co-living is a cool and affordable alternative for younger renters, but it may be the answer for older cost-sensitive individuals as well.
READ ALSO: NYC Looks to Co-Living for Shared Housing Template
That’s what New York City’s Housing Preservation & Development was thinking last year when it issued a request for information to co-living stakeholders to contribute ideas on developing, financing and managing shared units. The department also issued a request for expressions of interest to developers who might produce these shared units―with city subsidies―on privately owned sites.
New York City announced this week that it has selected three teams to carry out its ShareNYC pilot program. The winners are: Ascendant Neighborhood Development and the Ali Forney Center (36 beds in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood), Common and L+M Development Partners (253 beds in East Harlem) and Cypress Hills Local Development Corp. and PadSplit (11 beds in East New York, a Brooklyn neighborhood).
ShareNYC is part of the city’s Housing 2.0 plan, which raised the city’s target for new and preserved homes from 200,000 by 2024 to 300,000 by 2026. But New York City is not the first metropolis to notice co-living’s potential for serving rent-burdened residents. Common, for example, is also involved in projects in New Orleans and Atlanta that contain affordable units.
“New York has gone about it in the most official policy-oriented way, but it is happening in a bunch of other cities as well,” said Common Vice President Brian Lee.
Common, a co-living operator that has opened 30 such properties in six states, will operate the larger of the two East Harlem properties. L+M, a leading sponsor of affordable housing, will develop and own the community. Of its 253 units, two-thirds will be classified as affordable and the other third will be market-rate.
