July 2, 2021

Contact: hpdmedia@hpd.nyc.gov

The financing deals worth a combined $245 million dollars will create 204 units of senior housing in the Bronx’s Soundview neighborhood and 189 units of senior housing in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood

View rendering photos of the two housing development projects here

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA); the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD); and the NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC) have finalized two deals that will bring 393 new affordable senior apartments to the Soundview neighborhood in the Bronx and the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn through the pending groundbreakings of the Casa Celina and Atrium at Sumner housing development projects.

Construction on the 205-unit Casa Celina building at a vacant parking lot site at NYCHA's Justice Sonia Sotomayor campus and the 190-unit Atrium at Sumner building on NYCHA's Sumner Houses campus in Brooklyn is expected to begin later this month. One superintendent unit is being constructed at each site; each superintendent unit is included in the total unit count for each building.

There continues to be a pressing need throughout New York City for affordable senior housing that enables residents who have lived and been part of their communities for decades to age in place," said NYCHA EVP of Real Estate Development Jonathan Gouveia. "NYCHA is committed to increasing that supply while creating meaningful employment and social service opportunities for public housing residents and area seniors in the process."

"Seniors are a top priority for this Administration's ambitious affordable housing plan," said HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll. "Casa Celina and Atrium promise to be thriving communities with seniors receiving the support they need to prosper. These nearly 400 new affordable senior homes, to be built across two communities in the Bronx and Brooklyn, are the result of an incredible team effort with the New York City Housing Authority and our development and supportive housing partners."

"HDC is proud to provide the critical bond financing needed to make these projects a reality," said HDC President Eric Enderlin. "Casa Celina and the Atrium at Sumner will provide 393 much-needed affordable homes with critical supportive services, all while fostering economic growth through employment opportunities and training that will support the neighboring NYCHA residents."

"The Casa Celina development team often hears of the desperate demand for quality, affordable senior housing," said Andrea Kretchmer, Principal at Xenolith Partners LLC, "and we are now one step closer to helping to meet that need in a beautiful, sustainably designed building with high-quality services to be offered by the JASA, the city's premier senior service agency."

"Arriving at this milestone is bittersweet as we've lost several leaders at Sumner Houses during the pandemic. Our goal is to continue working together with the Tenant Association and residents of Sumner so construction runs as smooth as possible, and to honor the wishes of Mr. Ballard, Ms. Jackson, and Frankie," Matt Gross, Partner/Executive, Urban Builders Collaborative/Lettire Construction Corp. "We're proud to be part of this legacy project and grateful to the Village who supported us, including our non-profit partners Selfhelp and RiseBoro; our Design team led by Studio Libeskind; NYCHA; HPD; HDC; Speaker Corey Johnson; Councilperson Robert Cornegy; and Borough President Eric Adams."

"At a time when the price of living in New York City is on the rise, we're thrilled to play a part in bringing much needed affordable housing as well as Bed-Stuy's first PACE center to Brooklyn seniors," said Scott Short, CEO, RiseBoro. "Over the past year, we have seen a critical need for affordable housing with integrated services to keep seniors safe and healthy in times of crisis. As the older adult population continues to grow, projects like Atrium are more important than ever."

"For 85 years, Selfhelp Community Services has provided seniors and other vulnerable New Yorkers with critical services to age with independence and dignity in the neighborhoods they call home," said Evelyn Wolff, Executive Director, Selfhelp Realty Group - The Melamid Institute for Affordable Housing. "Today, we are one step closer to the development of The Atrium at Sumner, which will bring this commitment to Bedford-Stuyvesant. We would like to thank our partners, RiseBoro and Urban Builders Collaborative, as well as our partners in government, at NYCHA, HPD and HDC. And thanks to the visionary design of our architect Daniel Libeskind, we believe that this building will help establish a new framework for affordable senior housing and vibrant communities in New York and beyond."

Casa Celina - named after Justice Sonia Sotomayor's mother - will feature 158 studio apartments and 46 one-bedroom apartments, as well as one two-bedroom superintendent apartment, with 62 apartments set aside for homeless seniors and the remaining 142 apartments available to households earning at or below 50 percent of Area Median Income. NYCHA residents will be given preference for 36 of the apartments in the development.

When completed, Casa Celina will be located on the corner of Watson Avenue and Thieriot Avenue on NYCHA's Sotomayor Houses campus. The new building was designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning and developed by Xenolith Partners LLC (a WBE developer of affordable and supportive housing); The Kretchmer Companies LLC; ELH Management LLC; and the not-for-profit Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA). Mountco will be serving as the project's general contractor.

The 16-story building will bring much-needed affordable senior housing to the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx and provide a range of supportive community services to both residents of the completed site as well as residents from the neighboring Sotomayor Houses campus.

Building amenities at Casa Celina will include a fitness room, laundry room, and a landscaped roof terrace offering opportunities for exercise, yoga and gardening. Large windows throughout the apartments and common areas will offer abundant natural light, making the interiors feel expansive and supporting everyday mental health with ready access to daylight. Additionally, bright resident lounges on each floor create a vertical network of social spaces, helping to prevent isolation for residents living alone. The building has electric heating, cooling and cooking, and includes a solar panel array on the roof, offering residents improved indoor air quality and decreasing future carbon emissions.

The ground floor at Casa Celina will also feature a 1,725 square foot community facility space operated by Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA), one of New York's largest and most trusted agencies serving seniors and assuring they live safely in their own homes and communities with independence, dignity, and joy through case management, in-home care and community-wide programming. JASA will also manage the building.

The Atrium at Sumner in Bedford-Stuyvesant will feature 130 studio apartments and 59 one-bedroom apartments, as well as one two-bedroom superintendent apartment, with 57 apartments set aside for homeless seniors and the remaining 132 apartments available to households earning at or below 50 percent of Area Median Income. NYCHA residents will be given preference for 33 of the apartments. The 11-story building is organized around a central atrium with corridors overlooking a year-round indoor garden on the ground floor.

When completed, the Atrium at Sumner will be located on Marcus Garvey Boulevard between Park Avenue and Myrtle Avenue on NYCHA's Sumner Houses campus. The new building was designed by the world-renowned architecture firm Studio Libeskind and will be developed by Urban Builders Collaborative, LLC., RiseBoro Community Partnership, Inc., and Selfhelp Realty Group - The Melamid Institute for Affordable Housing.

The Atrium at Sumner is designed to Passive House Standards, resulting in 60 to 70 percent less energy consumption compared to the average New York City apartment building. The development will also feature a community garden for residents and outdoor seating adjacent to the building's entrances. The Sumner Houses campus' open space next to the new building will also receive a new playground, walking paths, lighting and seating.

The Atrium's common areas will include an exercise room as well classrooms, conference rooms, and a large multi-purposes room that will be home to educational and arts classes and programming to meet the needs of seniors.

RiseBoro will also partner with a Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) provider to offer comprehensive medical and social services for qualified elderly residents. Selfhelp will provide additional social services, with more intensive case management and services provided to formerly homeless residents. Selfhelp's Active Services for Aging Model (SHASAM) provides support services to allow older adults to age in their apartments and avoid more costly institutions such as assisted living and nursing homes. Selfhelp's social workers will provide health and wellness programming, assistance with benefits and entitlements, and referrals for home care and local resources.

Permanent financing for the $113 million project at Casa Celina includes $43 million in HDC bonds, $7.7 million in HDC Extremely Low & Low-Income Affordability (ELLA) subsidy, $52.7 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) equity, and $9.9 million from other sources. Permanent financing for the $132 million project at the Atrium at Sumner includes $41 million in HDC bonds; a $12 million subsidy from HDC's Extremely Low & Low-Income Affordability (ELLA) and HPD's Senior Affordable Rental Apartments (SARA) programs; roughly $63 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) equity; $3.5 million in Reso A funds from Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, City Council Members Corey Johnson and Robert Cornegy, and the City Council's Black & Asian Caucus; $2.2 million from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York; $300,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and $10 million from other sources.