Slate, RiseBoro land $122M to build Brownsville affordable project

Slate Property Group and nonprofit RiseBoro Community Partnership have nailed down a construction loan for a sizable affordable housing project in Brownsville.

The developers secured $121.7 million — a combination of tax credits, subsidies and financing from Goldman Sachs Asset Management — to build a 185,000-square-foot structure with 215 apartments at 326 Rockaway Avenue in the eastern Brooklyn neighborhood.

Some 129 units, or 60 percent, will be supportive housing for the homeless or those at risk of becoming homeless. The remaining 86 units will be affordable for families earning less than 60 percent of area median income.

The complex will include a 3,800-square-foot community facility and about 1,600 square feet of ground-floor retail; it grew in size and price since The Real Deal first reported on the plans last year. Slate expects to finish it in 2025.

The project fits a pattern for Slate, which has spent roughly $320 million acquiring and developing at least 10 homeless shelters or supportive housing developments since 2020 as homelessness in the city has climbed to levels not seen since the Great Depression. Slate recently refinanced its ownership interest in several shelters with co-owner Yoel Zagelbaum.

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Funding for the project is a “step towards addressing [Brooklyn’s] housing crisis,” said John Valladares, managing director at Slate Property Group, at a time when “the availability of affordable housing in New York City is insufficient to meet the need,” added Yarojin Robinson, managing director in the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

The financing includes tax-exempt bonds, low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) purchased by Goldman Sachs and subsidies from city agencies; the supportive units were funded through NYC 15/15 program, an initiative started by former Mayor de Blasio to develop 15,000 units of supportive housing over 15 years.

In October, Slate opened an affordable and supportive housing project with 119 units at 913 East Tremont Avenue in West Farms, the Bronx, with partners Westhab Inc. and Camber Property Group.