CDCs – Doing the Tough Deals

Don’t tell that to the Pratt Area Community Council though. For the last 2 years, they’ve been renovating the oldest remaining Firehouse in the city, at 365 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn. For a regular real estate developer, the choice would be simple: Downtown Brooklyn’s hot, renovations cost money, so getting the existing tenants out & high-rent paying ones in would be the plan.

But PACC wanted to find a different way – a way that kept the building affordable, and kept the tenants in their homes. And to boot, they managed to restore a beautiful New York City landmark.

Working with the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, PACC found some creative solutions – leveraging Historic Tax Credits, reaching out to the State for funding for Historic Preservation, partnering with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) – two of the few lenders who are willing to finance small preservation deals such as these – and reaching out to a respected and responsible builder, MDG Construction, know for its quality renovation work. Most importantly, the strong tenant association was engaged throughout the process – a must in a preservation project, and something CDCs put first and foremost.

It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t lucrative, but it’s what they do. Now 12 families get to keep their homes, 6 more get affordable housing in a great neighborhood, and a historic New York building gets preserved for the whole city.

PACC’s Deb Howard put it best at the ribbon cutting when she said “We are very proud to be standing here today in front of this magnificent building which is a slice of Brooklyn history. The tenants have lived through uncertainty and adverse conditions. Today’s ceremony is a testament to their staying power and PACC’s commitment to keeping families in their homes while preserving Brooklyn’s architectural heritage.”

That’s the value CDCs bring to the table. For developers, doing right has a bottom line. And that bottom line can be tough to make work in deals as complicated as 365 Jay. ButCDCs look at things differently. Decades of local experience working block-by-block means that they don’t shy away from the tough projects. They can’t afford to, and neither can our city.

Why? Well, former HPD Commissioner and CPC President & CEO Rafael Cestero summed it up perfectly at the ribbon cutting. “Small buildings like 365 Jay Street are critical sources of affordable housing, especially for low-income renters who are struggling to find ways to stay in their neighborhoods.”