Church-Owned Parcel in Brooklyn Set for Development

Rocklyn Asset Corporation, a property management firm affiliated with the Diocese of Brooklyn, is planning to build a 14-story apartment building in East New York on church-owned property.

The 362K SF multifamily would encompass 353 units at 2797 Atlantic Avenue on a parcel owned by St. Malachy’s, a Roman Catholic church. An unspecified number of affordable housing units will be included in the project.

The church lot is located in a growth corridor designated by NYC in 2016 to encourage mixed-income housing and commercial development along major arteries in East New York.

The lot formerly housed St. Malachy’s RC Church, which was demolished in 2011. A two-story building housing the St. Malachy’s Child Development Center is located on the site, which borders on Hendrix St. The site is across the street from a former dairy factory.

The former Empire State Dairy milk factory across the street at 2840 Atlantic Avenue is undergoing a redevelopment into a 370K SF, 14-story mixed-use project that will include 320 apartment units, a 52K SF community space and 14K SF of retail.

In May, Bushburg and Moinian Group secured a $105M construction loan from Valley Bank and Cross River Bank to complete the project, which will preserve the elements of the historic dairy per requirements of NYC’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Bushburg, so-named because the developer emerged from a territory encompassing the Williamsburg and Bushwick neighborhoods, bought the vacant milk factory—once occupied by food producer Borden—in 2018 for $17M.

The mixed-use tower rising on the site of the former dairy will include luxury apartments, a charter school and a grocery store.

Bushburg and Moinian previously partnered on PLG, a 26-story, 520K SF multifamily in Prospect Lefferts Gardens that opened in 2020. Bushburg also has multifamily projects under development in Jersey City and Florida.

The new apartment building at the former dairy site will be constructed with a brick façade that matches the brickwork on the historic factory buildings, as well as ornamentations unique to the dairy.

Last month, an affordable housing lottery was launched for a new 14-story mixed-use building at 2817 Atlantic Ave. developed by Joel Schwartz. Available on NYC Housing Connect are 14 units at 40% to 60% of the area median income (AIM), with eligible income ranging from $33, 875 to $86,460.

At 40 percent of the AMI, there are four two-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $750 for incomes ranging from $33,875 to $57,640 and three three-bedrooms with a monthly rent of $804 for incomes ranging from $38,983 to $66,200.