Affordable housing marks Fine career for developer.

As a social worker seeking housing for the mentally ill, those inflicted with HIV and the city's homeless population, Peter Fine had his work cut out for him. Always on the hunt for affordable housing, he became privy to the commodity of having a home, and that scarcity of low-moderate income housing led him to launch Atlantic Development Group more than a decade ago.

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As founder and president of Atlantic, Fine is responsible for creating more than $1 billion worth of housing--mostly affordable--contributing 5,500 units to the New York market. To date he has built 65 buildings (retaining ownership of all but a few), including 40 in the Bronx and 12 in Manhattan, and the company has more than 1,500 additional units in the ground now. With such an extensive development resume, it's hard to believe real estate was never on Fine's radar.

"There's nothing in my background that lends itself to real estate; I'm self-taught," said Fine, who grew up in Brooklyn.

After attending the New York City public schools, Fine explored three different colleges before ultimately winding up with a degree in sociology from New York University, and eventually earning his PhD. Not interested in teaching or polling, Fine opted to spend five years entrenched in social work, assisting a variety of nonprofits before becoming executive director of the Educational Alliance at age 30.

Working to place low to no-income people provided Fine with a greater awareness and sensitivity to the city's affordable housing needs, piquing his interest in development. After spending some time consulting, he founded Atlantic in 1995.

Fine fears that the economic recession could cripple the city's ability to fund affordable housing projects but remains confident that the Bloomberg Administration will continue to make low-moderate income housing a priority for New York. While Atlantic has plenty of shovels in the ground, broadening the company's scope is one way Fine stays competitive.

While affordable housing remains the backbone of the company, Fine expanded Atlantic in 2004 to include market-rate housing and retail. Fine calls 33 West End Avenue one of the firm's "signature" projects, since it involved 260 affordable units, 110 market-level units, 60 middle-income units, and 8,000 s/f of retail. The project also came with a variety of financing types and logistical challenges from Amtrak.

"We've always wanted to be diversified in different types of real estate," Fine said. "But I'm not going to give up affordable housing--that's the lifeblood of the company."

Perhaps there's no better example of that diversification than the unique Boricua College project Atlantic is currently developing. The 850,000 s/f development includes a 14-story college campus that will house 2,000 students; nearly 700 affordable housing units; and 50,000 s/f of retail space. Atlantic also has two other market-rate projects in the pipeline.

Fine has devoted more time to developing retail space. He plans to eventually establish a retail division at Atlantic, from renting out his own retail portfolio to developing new retail projects, especially in the Bronx--a borough he feels is grossly underutilized. He also plans to dabble in the restaurant business, hoping to open enterprises at Atlantic-owned retail units.

While 98% of Atlantic's business is based in New York, Fine says diversification also includes eyeing other markets. Atlantic is exploring the possibility of developing in South Florida.

While Fine calls real estate a "creatively fulfilling" career, he cannot get enough of music and the arts. He enjoys Latin, salsa, funk and rock music, and is also a generous supporter of theater and film productions.

Fine is producer of the Tony award winning musical, "In the Heights." After seeing the show off-Broadway, he fell in love with the music, and, being the son of cab driver without a college education, he identified with the storyline. He agreed to support the production and it's now one of the hottest shows in the city.

Fine, who resides in Manhattan, is also investing in the Broadway revival of West Side Story and assisted in opening a Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side. In addition, he serves on the board for the Hispanic Federation of America, the Educational Alliance, and sits on the board of directors for the UJA-Federation.

"I really consider myself a citizen of New York--and that involves the arts, philanthropy and business," Fine said. "If I just did business, I'd be a pretty boring guy; I'd bore myself."