New Green Cooperative ‘Blooms’ on Gates Avenue

marshag

For Immediate Release
Friday, June 10, 2009

Contact: Marsha Gordon, LCG Communications:
718.853.5568; [email protected]


Pratt Area Community Council Cuts Ribbon on Exciting, Sustainable Affordable Housing;
New Green Cooperative ‘Blooms’ on Gates Avenue

Pratt Area Community Council (PACC), a community development organization celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, has proven that with experience and collaboration with the right partnerships, affordable housing and business developments can still be produced in this current tumultuous economic time.

Today, PACC and their partners cut the ribbon at a ‘green’ 34-unit affordable cooperative in Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn. The Gates Cooperative is located at 566 Gates Avenue between Tompkins and Throop Avenues. The several dozen attendees and elected officials were then led on a tour of the brand new building.
The green design project, built on a formerly vacant city-owned lot, will earn an Energy Star label for the entire building through a new program of U.S. EPA and NYSERDA. The 5-story cooperative building has 24 two-bedroom and 10 one-bedroom apartments for low- and moderate-income households, with unit prices ranging from $87,000 to $167,000. There are a percentage of the units set aside for municipal employees and those with disabilities.

“The Gates Cooperative is part of PACC’s larger effort to create affordable homeownership opportunities in Bedford-Stuyvesant and surrounding neighborhoods where real estate prices are beyond local residents’ reach,” stated PACC’s Housing Director Drew Kiriazides. “We were also mindful in today’s economic climate that the new homebuyers would not have a high debt burden, thus they can safely manage their new mortgages.”

Duane Cornish, a lifelong Brooklynite and resident on Fulton Street for the past three years stated, “I saw the neighborhood turning around and was looking to buy, this looked like a great opportunity when the lottery came up and I got lucky!”

The project was funded through monies from several government agencies including the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) which provided a $1.76 million subsidy and the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) which provided $2.96 million. An additional $1.18 million in financing came from the New York State Affordable Housing Corporation via the Housing Partnership Development Corporation and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s office provided $250,000. JPMorgan Chase provided the $4.35 million construction loan.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said, “Bravo to PACC. As an affordable housing advocate since my earliest days in public life, I can say with complete confidence that the Gates Cooperative is exactly the kind of development Brooklyn and New York City needs right now. There is no greater component of the American Dream than home ownership. At a time when the real estate market prohibits too many Brooklynites from owning a home in Brooklyn, a project like the Gates allows local residents to remain in the neighborhoods they love.”
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About PACC: Now celebrating its 45th anniversary year, PACC is one of NYC’s leading community development corporations with a focus on Central Brooklyn. PACC’s goals are to preserve and develop safe and affordable housing; to support a vibrant local commerce; to sustain and develop an economic, racial, and cultural diversity; and to foster an ethic that all members of the community bear personal responsibility to contribute to the greater good. For more information on PACC, visit http://www.prattarea.org.