NEW YORK CITY-A development team led by the Related Cos. will build the $360-million residential portion of the first phase in the Bloomberg administration’s ambitious Hunter’s Point South redevelopment plan. The two mixed-use buildings along the Queens waterfront adjacent to Long Island City will contain more than 900 housing units, 75% of which will be permanently targeted to low-, moderate- and middle-income residents, the mayor’s office announced Wednesday.
“At Hunter’s Point South, not only will we build the largest new affordable housing complex in more than three decades, we’ll do it on long-vacant waterfront property that has incredible views and sits adjacent to one of New York City’s fastest growing neighborhoods,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg says in a statement. The project’s first phase is scheduled for completion in 2014; ultimately the Hunter’s Point South redevelopment is slated to contain 5,000 apartments.
Related’s partners in the development team are not-for-profit affordable housing firm Phipps Houses and Monadnock Construction. The team’s response to the request for proposals on the project by the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development went beyond the quota of 60% affordable housing called for in the RFP, according to a release. Related EVP Bruce A. Beal Jr. says in a statement that his firm has been committed to affordable housing for the past 40 years.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that although some observers have said Related’s ties to the Bloomberg administration gave the developer an edge over a field of six rivals, city officials took pains to stress that the winning proposal won on its merits. Along with a long history of affordable housing development—in the case of Phipps, more than a century—the team submitted a plan that best adhered to the design guidelines, according to a release. It also provided both the lowest per-unit and total subsidy of all of the finalists.
To be built on a long-vacant former industrial site along the banks of the East River, the project’s first phase will get under way next month with infrastructure work that’s expected to be completed in about two years. The two residential buildings, including 20,000 square feet of retail space, will begin construction in 2012 and are expected to take up to 24 months to complete. There will also be a new school, which will be built by the New York City Schools Construction Authority and is slated to open in the fall of 2013.
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