AFL-CIO invests in Chelsea housing complex to create construction jobs

The Penn South co-op at 321 Eighth AvenueThe AFL-CIO Housing Investment trust is investing $134 million into a Chelsea affordable housing complex just south of Penn Station, GlobeSt.com reported. It’s using its union pension capital to preserve affordability and initiate capital improvements for the 2,820 housing units in the Penn South co-op at 321 Eighth Avenue Near 26th Street.

The improvements will necessitate about 610 union construction jobs, and the investment trust’s COO,Ted Chandler, admitted that was a major motivation for the investment, in addition to its support of affordable housing. Two years ago, the trust announced its intentions to create 10,000 construction jobs through investments. It has now created 11,188 across the country.

“We started along this path because this is a time of historically high unemployment in the construction trade in particular,” Chandler said. “This is the Great Depression in the construction industry and we have an obligation to respond.”

The trust has several more major developments planned in the city, Chandler said. [GlobeSt]