Construction crews have installed the majority of the exterior facade and are well into interior work at 89 Maspeth Avenue, the 18-story, 100-percent affordable housing tower rising in East Williamsburg. The 135-foot building, situated between Skillman and Maspeth Avenues, is slated for completion next spring and will bring 311 rental units to a site that spent decades as an abandoned city hospital campus.
The project is being developed by Hudson Companies and St. Nicks Alliance in collaboration with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development, according to New York YIMBY, whose report from writer Michael Young details the building's progress. Architecture Outfit serves as design architect and Magnusson Architecture and Planning, PC is architect of record, with the building comprising 457,444 square feet of total floor area, including 294,297 square feet of residential space, 161,440 square feet of community facility space, and 1,707 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, plus a cellar level and a 43-foot-long side yard.
The financing behind that scale of construction is substantial. Co-developers secured $235 million in construction financing in July 2024 to fund this second phase of the redevelopment, according to Traded. Developers broke ground on the 18-story building that same September, with initial completion targets ranging from 2026 through April 2027, as reported by The Greenline.
A Hospital Site Reborn as Cooper Park Commons
89 Maspeth Avenue is part of what's now called Cooper Park Commons, a four-phase master plan built on the site of the formerly abandoned Greenpoint Hospital, which was renamed and integrated into the project. The hospital first opened in 1914 and closed in 1982 during New York City's fiscal crisis, a shutdown that sparked more than 40 years of grassroots activism led by St. Nicks Alliance and the Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation to convert the site into community-controlled housing, according to ANHD.
The hospital carries its own slice of city history — NYPD whistleblower Frank Serpico was rushed there for treatment after being shot in Williamsburg in February 1971, per Wikipedia. Cooper Park Commons already includes Building 1, a converted existing structure designed by Edelman Sultan Knox Wood that was completed last year and now houses a 200-bed homeless shelter for single adult men.
Supportive Services and a Broader Campus Vision
Beyond construction, the city has committed significant operational funding to the site. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene awarded a $40,419,113 contract to St. Nicks Alliance in July to provide congregate supportive housing services for 46 single adults and 47 families with children at 89 Maspeth Avenue, according to the City Record Online.
The overall master plan spans 3.4 acres and envisions 557 total affordable residences for families and seniors, an additional 200-bed homeless shelter, an NYU Langone health clinic, and 180,000 square feet of site improvements and public open space, per the Passive House Accelerator. Cooper Park Commons will also include a 14-story residential building at Jackson Street and Kingsland Avenue, though construction on that structure has not yet commenced, and no start or completion dates have been announced for the plan's final two phases. Each phase is designed to include new outdoor space, lounges, rooftop terraces, children's playrooms, fitness centers, laundry rooms, and bike storage.
Energy Standards and a Non-Profit's Long Track Record
89 Maspeth Avenue is designed to meet Passive House International Classic and LEED for Homes v4 Gold certification standards, and it won NYSERDA's Buildings of Excellence Award and Blue Ribbon for Design Excellence in March 2021, according to Steven Winter Associates. Those state climate incentives are meant to lower long-term operational energy costs while the project expands the local affordable housing supply.
St. Nicks Alliance itself has deep roots in North Brooklyn, having been founded in 1975 following a neighborhood fire in Williamsburg. The non-profit has since built more than 2,800 affordable units and maintains an active development pipeline of over 1,200 additional units across the area, according to City & State New York. The Cooper Park Commons site sits directly across the street from NYCHA's Cooper Park Houses, physically linking the new apartments and community facility space to an existing public housing development.
The nearest subway access is the Graham Avenue station, serviced by the L train. The project's advance comes as East Williamsburg's median residential listing price hit $1,225,000 in mid-2026, a 22.6 percent year-over-year jump, while Brooklyn's overall median monthly rent reached $4,257, according to Hoodline's recent reporting on the neighborhood's shifting real estate market. Against that backdrop, 311 permanently affordable units represent a rare counterweight in a rapidly gentrifying corner of Brooklyn.
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