Last Friday, Nov. 19, local leaders broke ground for the construction of Rheingold Senior Residences, a new living complex for low-income seniors.
Located at the Rheingold Brewery site, 15 Montieth St., the building will stand eight stories tall and include 94 studio and one-bedroom apartments. The building will also have community lounges on each floor, a backyard and a rooftop with raised garden beds.
About 30% of the units will be reserved for formerly homeless seniors, while the remaining units will go to seniors making up to 60 percent of the federally mandated Area Median Income (AMI), which is about $50,000 per individual and $57,000 per two-person household.
Also included in the $67 million building will be amenities for the wider public, including a separately accessible multipurpose room with a warming kitchen that will be open for use by local community groups, several classrooms and an office space.
The building is being jointly developed by the nonprofits Los Sures and Churches United for Fair Housing (CUFFH). Los Sures will continue to manage the building after construction and offer activities, including gardening, art, poetry and healthy cooking classes, along with more traditional social services.
“Too often, expensive prices at senior residences put an unnecessary strain on seniors looking for new and affordable housing. The Rheingold Senior Residences will set a new standard of affordable housing for seniors inside and out,” Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez explained in a statement provided to Bushwick Daily.
Additionally, Rheingold Senior Residences is designed to be energy efficient. The building will be constructed with green materials. Solar panels will occupy the roof of the building, and centralized heating and cooling will be powered entirely by an electric heat pump system.
“Rheingold Senior Residences will provide much needed deeply affordable housing and direct services for our seniors in Bushwick,” Rob Solano, executive director and co-founder of CUFFH, said in a statement provided to Bushwick Daily. “Our hope is that these residences, with their sustainable design, will remain a standard in the continuation of providing affordable supportive housing for our aging communities.”
Financing for the building includes a $29.5 million construction loan from Chase, a subsidy loan for $11.2 million through the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) Senior Affordable Rental Apartments (SARA) program, and an allocation of $1.6 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. CREA LLC and Bellwether Real Estate Capital are also providing $16.3 million in tax credit equity, which is facilitating the permanent loan to be held by the loan corp Freddie Mac for $17.4 million, according to a release provided to Bushwick Daily.
Funding also came from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which provided a Buildings of Excellence Competition Award of $750,000 and a commitment of $300,000 through the Multifamily New Construction Program.
In addition to all of the sources listed above, Mayor-Elect Eric Adams and Brooklyn Borough President-Elect Antonio Reynoso have contributed a combined total of $7 million out of their dedicated funds for the construction of the project.
Reynoso, along with other local elected officials, including Assemblywoman Maritza Davila, gathered at the construction site on Friday during the groundbreaking event.
“On Friday we celebrated the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Rheingold Building in the Southside which will be a home for the most vulnerable population of our community — our seniors,” Davila wrote in an Instagram post. “Thank you for the hard work of @lossures and @cuffh for making this possible, as well as all the community stakeholders involved. I’m looking forward to see this project come into fruition and ensure our seniors have accessibility to affordable housing.”
Featured image and images of Assemblywoman Davila and Brooklyn Borough President-Elect Antonio Reynoso courtesy of Rockabill Consulting.
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