City completes $14.8M middle income Harlem coop.

The City completed the first newly constructed multifamily development in the Bradhurst Urban Renewal Area as part of a unique public/private partnership program designed to increase middle-income homeownership opportunities in New York City.

Located in Manhattan on 145th Street between Edgecombe and Bradhurst Avenues, this will be a full service residential building with 76 cooperative apartments and approximately 15,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, including a new Duane Reade store.

"As Mayor Bloomberg likes to say, New York is a City of neighborhoods, the places we call home, where our children go to school, our shopkeepers serve their customers and New Yorkers enjoy family life. Affordable housing is fundamental to prosperous neighborhoods," said Jerilyn Perine, commissioner of New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development's.

"That's why the Mayor developed his housing plan, The New Housing Marketplace: Creating Housing for the next Generation, to build or rehabilitate 65,000 homes and apartments citywide over a five year period,"

The building was developed through the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development's Cornerstone Program that relies primarily on financing from private sources to produce newly constructed middle-income and market rate housing units on formerly city-owned land. Developers were chosen through a competitive Request for Proposal process.

The Hamilton is a joint venture between the Richman Group and the Gotham Organization, Inc. The architect is Greenberg Farrow Architecture. All three companies have extensive development experience in Harlem.

The Hamilton is made possible by a $14.8 million construction loan from Citibank, $6.1 million in construction and permanent loan financing from the New York City Housing Development Corporation, a $1.3 million grant from Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and equity from the developers.

HPD provided the land. The New York City Housing Partnership is also a participant, holding title to the land during construction and overseeing marketing.

"Helping to make life better is the foundation of the commitment we make to each community where we do business," said Ajay Banga, Executive Vice President, Citigroup's Global Consumer Group, and Business Head for Citibank North America Retail Banking.

The Hamilton was designed specifically for middle-income families. All cooperative apartments are available to households with annual incomes between approximately $52,000 and $157,000. Sale prices range from $128,000 to $302,500.

A lottery was held for the sale of the cooperative apartments and a total of 1,200 applications were submitted. To date, 62 apartments have been sold with close to 50% of the new owners coming from the Harlem community.