Construction Resumes On Housing At Atlantic Yards
The project formerly known as Atlantic Yards has resumed construction on its long-delayed, much-anticipated residential buildings.
Workers broke ground on Monday for the building to be located at 535 Carlton Avenue. Once constructed, it will offer “100 percent affordable” housing — although what the city deems “affordable” is mostly not so for current residents of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy and Prospect Heights.
As Crain’s New York explained:
The 298 apartments at 535 Carlton will be available to tenants from five different income tiers: half for tenants who earn up to 165% of the area median income for a family of four, which is $83,900 a year; 15% for tenants earning up to 145% of the AMI; 5% for those earning up to 100%; 25% for those earning up to 60%; and 5% for those earning up to 40%. More than half the tenants in the new building will pay rent of about $3,500 a month for a two-bedroom apartment.
According to the mayor, the total will amount to 100% affordable housing and count toward his effort to create and preserve 200,000 affordable units in 10 years, as well as his goal of financing 16,000 new affordable units by the end of 2014.
Critics have complained that the administration’s 50-30-20 definition of affordability—under which half of apartments in a project are market-rate, 30% for middle-income tenants and 20% for low-income—does not do enough for those at the bottom of the economic ladder. But Mr. de Blasio defended the tiered scale as practical for today’s market.
Back in June, the housing developer, Greenland Forest City, re-branded the project as Pacific Park in an attempt to move away from the controversy and stigma attached to “Atlantic Yards.”
The move also came alongside the release of a new timetable for construction — 2,250 apartment units in five buildings by 2025 — the result of pressure from the city to prove that there would be no more delays.
The city is subsidizing the project with $11.7 million, just for 535 Carlton alone.