Tishman Speyer has locked in roughly $214 million to put up a 300-unit, all-affordable tower at Edgemere Commons in Far Rockaway, with shovels expected to hit the ground in the coming weeks. The project will bring street-level retail and apartments reserved for New Yorkers exiting homelessness to the former Peninsula Hospital site.
According to the New York Business Journal, the financing package totals about $214 million and will support a 300-unit building that includes roughly 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The outlet also reported that 45 of the apartments will be designated for formerly homeless New Yorkers and that work on the site is expected to begin soon.
Project specs and financing
City documents from the New York City Housing Development Corporation identify the project as Edgemere Commons B2 at 332 Beach 52nd Street and describe an 18-story building with 300 affordable rental units and about 6,025 square feet of commercial space, according to an NYC HDC memo. The memo puts the expected total development cost at roughly $213.06 million and lists Hudson Housing Capital as the syndicator and Capital One as an investor and credit enhancer. It also notes that “100% of the residential rental units will be affordable to households earning at or below 80% AMI.”
Part of a bigger plan for Far Rockaway
Edgemere Commons is a multi-phase, roughly 9.34-acre redevelopment of the former Peninsula Hospital site that the developer describes as an all-affordable, mixed-use community. The plan ultimately calls for more than 2,000 homes, neighborhood retail and publicly accessible open space, according to Tishman Speyer's project site. The developer’s materials also highlight resiliency features, including elevated streets, bioswales and standby generators, intended to help protect the oceanfront neighborhood from future storms.
Local reaction and supportive housing
Local officials and service providers have pointed to earlier phases of Edgemere Commons as a needed boost for the Rockaways’ housing supply and services. As QNS reported when TS Communities broke ground on a prior building, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. declared, “The Rockaway Renaissance continues in real time.” Supportive housing provider Breaking Ground has also praised the project’s supportive-housing components in earlier phases.
What to watch next
Leasing for Edgemere Commons buildings will run through NYC Housing Connect, and the developer’s site directs prospective tenants there for lottery announcements. The New York Business Journal reported that construction on this latest tower is expected to begin in the coming weeks. City financing documents outline the HDC construction support and the Capital One-backed credit enhancement that underpin the deal, according to the NYC HDC memo. Watch for formal lottery notices on NYC Housing Connect and for additional HDC filings that lock in the construction timeline.
