City reaches deal to preserve affordable units at 1K-unit LES co-op

Deal involves offering low-interest mortgage for co-op shareholders

Masaryk Towers at 77 Columbia St (Credit: Wikipedia)
Masaryk Towers at 77 Columbia St (Credit: Wikipedia)

The city has reached a deal to keep Masaryk Towers, a Lower East Side co-op with more than 1,000 units, affordable and in the Mitchell-Lama program.

The deal involves offering co-op shareholders a low-interest mortgage in exchange for affordability restrictions like caps on buyer income and limits to how much sellers can profit, according to Crain’s. The Housing Development Corporation provided almost $45 million to finance the deal, which still needs to be finalized.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Since 1989, about 20,000 co-op and rental units have left the Mitchell-Lama program and switched to market rate. Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged in October that his administration would spend $250 million in an effort to keep 15,000 apartments in the program.  [Crain’s] – Eddie Small