Recently, an affordable senior housing community dubbed Park 79 opened for use in Manhattan’s borough of New York. The project was a partnership between Fairstead, Project FIND and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD). The property was a single-room occupancy hotel in the 90’s, until it closed in 2015.
The national real estate company, Fairstead acquired the former hotel in 2016 and made plans for the Park 79 project. Fairstead proposed an adaptive reuse of the property, in order to convert it into residential housing. Afterwards, the developer received a $51 million construction loan from Merchants Bank of Indiana in 2020 to commence the project. Freddie Mac also provided $28.4 million in permanent funding through Merchants Capita. Additionally, the project received a nine percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit equity investment from Boston Financial.
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Number of units at the Park 79 seniors community
Park 79 is a seven story building offering 77 affordable units for seniors through HPD’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartments program. The affordable housing development took place at 117 W. 79th St. in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It’s a convenient location, which offers easy commutes across the city’s metropolitan area.
The age-restricted Park 79 community will accommodate seniors earning at or below 50% of the area’s median income. However, the developer has also reserved 24 units for formerly homeless individuals. Additionally, the property has a project-based Section 8 contract which supports all the units. This contract allows residents to pay 30 percent of their income in rent.
Park 79 features studio apartments equipped with energy efficient amenities such as heat pumps, high efficiency boilers and LED lighting. Furthermore, residents at the community have access to shared facilities like a common room, green garden, and meeting room. It also offers laundry facilities, as well as elevator and controlled access on the property. Project FIND will manage the on-site supportive services for residents including remote programming and in-person classes.
