Real estate lending and development firm iStar filed plans Friday for a new nine-story supportive housing project rising next to the Coney Island boardwalk – part of larger ambitions the firm has in store for the historic beachfront site.
The 135-unit development will span nearly 107,000 square feet at 2002 Surf Avenue and include nearly 8,000 square feet of commercial space, according to permit applications filed with the city’s Department of Buildings.
iStar leased the property from the city’s Economic Development Corporation last year, according to records, and the residential development will rise next to a new 5,000-seat amphitheater and waterfront restaurant that iStar is currently constructing at the landmarked Childs Restaurant site in Coney Island.
In addition to two ground-floor commercial units, the housing development will hold 18 apartments and an outdoor courtyard on the second floor. There will be 19 units on each of the third through sixth floors and 16 apartments on the seventh and eighth floors.
The ninth floor will hold nine apartments, plus a lounge and outdoor terrace, while there will be an outdoor roof deck perched atop of the building.
The development will hold “a philanthropic or nonprofit institution,” according to the filing, and is part of much larger plans by iStar to build 1 million square feet of housing near the Coney Island boardwalk, according to the company’s website.
iStar did not return requests for comment. Stephen B. Jacobs Group, the project’s architect of record, declined to comment.
iStar recently provided Allen Gross’ GFI Capital Resources with a $50 million construction loan for a new “lifestyle hotel” that GFI is developing in Downtown Brooklyn.