City officials have selected the team to develop an almost 300-unit mixed-use project in Hudson Square.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Parks and Recreation have tapped Camber Property Group, Services for the Underserved and Essence Development to construct the project at 388 Hudson St., they announced Thursday.

The complex, called Hudson Mosaic, will feature affordable and supportive housing, along with a new recreation center that the Parks Department will own and operate. It will be the first city-led development to combine affordable housing with a Parks Department rec center and marks the latest push from Mayor Eric Adams’ outgoing administration to build more housing on public land.

Hudson Mosaic will rise on what is now an underutilized lot owned by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, located between Clarkson and West Houston streets. The entirely affordable residential units will be for single adults, couples and families earning a range of low to moderate incomes, with at least 15% of units set aside for the formerly homeless. Services for the Underserved will provide on-site clinical and support services for residents.

The recreation center, meanwhile, will include an indoor pool with six lanes, a gym with a full-size basketball court, an indoor track and multipurpose rooms for a range of different programs. It will serve as an anchor for the city’s roughly $164 million investment in what it has dubbed the Clarkson Street Corridor, a plan the city announced in August that aims to transform this stretch of the West Village and Hudson Square into a hub for recreation, culture and fitness. Other amenities in Hudson Mosaic will include an outdoor terrace on the sixth floor, a computer room and a children’s playroom.

The development team and the city will now work to get the necessary public approvals for the project and secure construction financing. They are still working out many details, including the exact number of residential units, the area median income levels those units will accommodate, the size of the project and the expected total cost. HPD expects the project to take at least a few years to complete. Ahmed Tigani, acting commissioner of HPD, called Hudson Mosaic “a demonstration of HPD’s commitment to building homes and neighborhoods that give every New Yorker the chance to thrive and live a life with dignity.”

Increasing the city’s housing supply has been a major goal of the Adams administration, which has selected a flurry of development teams to build projects on publicly-owned sites in its final weeks. Officials recently tapped Slate Property Group, Xenolith Partners and Comunilife to construct a more than 600-unit mixed-use project at 4095 Ninth Ave. in Inwood. They also picked GFP Real Estate to turn 100 Gold St. in the Financial District into a project with 3,700 housing units.

The project is the result of a partnership between the Institute for Community Living (ICL), the New York City Department of Social Services, and Camber Property Group.

What was once an empty lot in Cypress Hill has been transformed into a beacon of hope and stability. The Atlantic, the neighborhood’s newest 100 percent affordable housing development, is now home to 183 individuals and families who previously lacked a permanent place to live.

The project is the result of a partnership between the Institute for Community Living (ICL), the New York City Department of Social Services, and Camber Property Group. Together, they’ve created permanent housing designed specifically for people transitioning out of the shelter system, offering not just apartments, but the foundation for long-term stability and healing.

“Housing for individuals leaving shelter can feel very limited in the city,” said Dr. Jeanine Costley, Senior Vice President of Transitional Services at ICL. “This environment allows them to have an apartment, to have their own space, and really heal from the trauma of homelessness.”

For residents like Victor Rivera, the move has been life-changing. Victor and his 88-year-old mother spent years moving from place to place before landing in a shelter, where they shared a single room with others and struggled with basic daily needs.

“We had to share a room with other people – sometimes they weren’t clean,” Rivera said. “I like this place here because my mom is comfortable. She’s happy. She got her room and I got my room.”

While in the shelter, even meals were a challenge. Rivera recalls rigid meal schedules and limited options.

“They had certain times to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We ate hero sandwiches for like four months every day for lunch,” he said. “I’d be buying breakfast, lunch, and dinner all at the same time and keeping it in the room.”

Today, life looks very different. Residents now prepare warm meals in their own kitchens and have access to amenities such as a gym, a rooftop deck, and on-site health services, features that support both physical well-being and a sense of dignity.

Another unique aspect of the development is what’s coming next door. An adjacent space will soon become an Institute for Community Living office, bringing essential programs and services even closer to the residents and the surrounding community.

“We have all of these services on site that help provide tenants with the support that they need to continue living here,” Dr. Costley said.

For Rivera, the true value of The Atlantic goes beyond modern amenities or added security. It’s about belonging.

“At the end of the day, it didn’t matter about it being a new building, that’s cool,” he said. “It didn’t really matter about the security. It’s just it’s ours.”

Dr. Costley tells News 12 that The Atlantic is expected to be fully occupied by March 2026.

New York’s incoming mayor has vowed less red tape and a brisker pace when it comes to residential construction — he’s also promised a rent freeze

But his proposals have deeply divided property owners. Affordable housing developers have hailed Mamdani’s goal to triple the number of subsidized homes constructed annually and his pledge to cut red tape within city agencies.

The city’s real estate titans, many of whom backed Mamdani’s mayoral opponent Andrew Cuomo, have bristled at his plans to push for higher corporate and income taxes, and worry about his approach to public safety. Residential landlords warned that a lengthy rent freeze on their rent-regulated units would tip their multifamily properties into bankruptcy.

“The industry is pragmatic, not ideological, and is quantitatively based,” Jordan Barowitz, a principal at Barowitz Advisory and a former executive at The Durst Organization, said. “So, when numbers pencil out they’re happy, and when they don’t they’re sad.”

Mamdani knows that winning over one of the city’s top industries will accomplish some of his affordability goals. Over the past few months, he has met with prominent real estate CEOs and attended roundtables with developers to hear their concerns. His recognition of the private market’s role in solving the city’s housing shortage, and early appointment of Dean Fuleihan as first deputy mayor while retaining Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, may soothe their anxieties.

But the challenges Mamdani faces are immense. He will need cooperation from Albany, N.Y., for any changes to city tax rates. Plenty of other barriers prevent the construction of subsidized housing at the scale that Mamdani wants. And President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding if he is unhappy with the new mayor, which could cripple the city’s budget.

“We’re still dealing with a fragile COVID recovery and lots of economic uncertainty from Washington, so it’s far from an ideal time to raise taxes,” one real estate executive told Commercial Observer. “Appointments and execution are the biggest steps [Mamdani] can make, but the taxation side of the equation will keep business and real estate appropriately paranoid.”

One of Mamdani’s most enduring campaign slogans was to pause rents on the city’s 1 million rent-regulated apartments.

He can’t ice rents directly, but Mamdani will have the power to appoint like-minded members to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board. This year, the board voted to increase rents by 3 percent on one-year leases and by 4.5 percent for two-year leases. It’s the fourth straight year the Rent Guidelines Board has approved a rent increase.

Mayor Eric Adams is considering appointing as many as five new members to the nine-member board before his term expires on Dec. 31. But tenant groups are pressuring candidates to refuse the position, while Mamdani could seek to remove them next year.

Beyond the political machinations, multifamily landlords warned that the new mayor must also address the rising costs of maintaining their properties. Insurance for rent-stabilized buildings skyrocketed 150 percent between 2019 and 2025, while maintenance costs jumped 39 percent and utility bills rose 31 percent over the same period, according to a New York University Furman Center report.

“The rent-stabilized housing stock is in a precarious position,” Barowitz said. “If there is going to be a rent freeze, we need to think about providing relief to owners for expenses.”

Mamdani has promised to help landlords lower their operating costs through city subsidies and to tackle property tax reform to lower their tax burdens. But property owners have not utilized existing programs that offer cash subsidies to lease out their vacant apartments because they are unworkable.

“What [the Mamdani team] doesn’t understand is that this housing is struggling, but cash infusion will not save it,” Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, which represents city landlords, said. “You can’t ask property owners to put money into an apartment that won’t see a return and then operate that very apartment at a monthly loss. It fundamentally doesn’t work.”

Carlina Rivera, who left the New York City Council this summer to lead the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, said that the city must set up the right infrastructure to help distressed buildings where operational costs are outpacing rental incomes.

“There are plenty of people in the industry who want to come together to bring costs down,” she said. “Construction costs are high, and we want to make sure some of the legislation and ideas are really considered by his team as they put forward their plans.”

Building new homes in a city as heavily regulated as New York is complicated, but Mamdani will assess ways to simplify the process.

On the campaign trail, the Queens Assemblyman frequently spoke about cutting bloat at government agencies and speeding up bureaucratic processes for securing permits, completing safety inspections and issuing approvals.

The Adams administration tried to improve these processes, allegedly hastening building approvals for well-connected developers to their detriment. One instance drew the FBI’s attention when a whistleblower said Adams pressured the Fire Department to allow the Turkish government to open its Manhattan consulate before resolving the building’s safety issues.

But many residential developers continue to grapple with long waits to obtain permits that can disrupt construction schedules and increase project costs.

Camber Property Group founding principal Rick Gropper, who prepared a policy memo on affordable housing for the Mamdani transition team, said the new mayor must improve coordination between agencies that conduct safety and environmental reviews.

“Removing some of the barriers to getting buildings online as quickly as possible has the potential to save hundreds of millions of dollars in carry costs, which ultimately results in the creation of additional housing units that take pressure off the housing stock,” he said.

Rivera has urged the incoming administration to streamline the permitting process by creating a public dashboard for people to see when approvals happen.

“Transparency is something the campaign has been very clear about, and this will help get projects off the ground more quickly, reduce costs and maintain their timelines,” she said.

Mamdani may also look to expedite the housing voucher process, a topic that came up during a roundtable discussion with affordable housing developers before Mamdani’s election. In 2023, the city eliminated a 90-day waiting period for homeless New Yorkers to obtain rental assistance vouchers, but tenants have experienced lengthy waits to move into their new homes due to delays in reviewing applications, inspecting buildings and receiving payments.

“He was very interested in trying to understand how the government can move people into apartments more quickly,” David Schwartz, co-founder of Slate Property Group, said. “He wasn’t just meeting with us to check a box. He wanted to learn.”

Mayor Adams did leave his successor with a nice parting gift.

In November, voters approved several ballot measures written by Adams’s Charter Revision Commission that will shift power from the City Council to the City Planning Commission to  approve some affordable housing projects, and create an appeals process for proposed affordable developments the City Council rejected.

Mamdani waited until Election Day to support five of the ballot proposals, but it remains unclear how he will use them.

Regardless, he will be busy in the coming months.

Camber Property Group owns the Strand, a 132-unit apartment complex that opened in 2020

City officials have selected the team to develop an almost 300-unit mixed-use project in Hudson Square.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Parks and Recreation have tapped Camber Property Group, Services for the Underserved and Essence Development to construct the project at 388 Hudson St., they announced Thursday.

The complex, called Hudson Mosaic, will feature affordable and supportive housing, along with a new recreation center that the Parks Department will own and operate. It will be the first city-led development to combine affordable housing with a Parks Department rec center and marks the latest push from Mayor Eric Adams’ outgoing administration to build more housing on public land.

Hudson Mosaic will rise on what is now an underutilized lot owned by the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, located between Clarkson and West Houston streets. The entirely affordable residential units will be for single adults, couples and families earning a range of low to moderate incomes, with at least 15% of units set aside for the formerly homeless. Services for the Underserved will provide on-site clinical and support services for residents.

The recreation center, meanwhile, will include an indoor pool with six lanes, a gym with a full-size basketball court, an indoor track and multipurpose rooms for a range of different programs. It will serve as an anchor for the city’s roughly $164 million investment in what it has dubbed the Clarkson Street Corridor, a plan the city announced in August that aims to transform this stretch of the West Village and Hudson Square into a hub for recreation, culture and fitness. Other amenities in Hudson Mosaic will include an outdoor terrace on the sixth floor, a computer room and a children’s playroom.

The development team and the city will now work to get the necessary public approvals for the project and secure construction financing. They are still working out many details, including the exact number of residential units, the area median income levels those units will accommodate, the size of the project and the expected total cost. HPD expects the project to take at least a few years to complete. Ahmed Tigani, acting commissioner of HPD, called Hudson Mosaic “a demonstration of HPD’s commitment to building homes and neighborhoods that give every New Yorker the chance to thrive and live a life with dignity.”

Increasing the city’s housing supply has been a major goal of the Adams administration, which has selected a flurry of development teams to build projects on publicly-owned sites in its final weeks. Officials recently tapped Slate Property Group, Xenolith Partners and Comunilife to construct a more than 600-unit mixed-use project at 4095 Ninth Ave. in Inwood. They also picked GFP Real Estate to turn 100 Gold St. in the Financial District into a project with 3,700 housing units.

The project is the result of a partnership between the Institute for Community Living (ICL), the New York City Department of Social Services, and Camber Property Group.

What was once an empty lot in Cypress Hill has been transformed into a beacon of hope and stability. The Atlantic, the neighborhood’s newest 100 percent affordable housing development, is now home to 183 individuals and families who previously lacked a permanent place to live.

The project is the result of a partnership between the Institute for Community Living (ICL), the New York City Department of Social Services, and Camber Property Group. Together, they’ve created permanent housing designed specifically for people transitioning out of the shelter system, offering not just apartments, but the foundation for long-term stability and healing.

“Housing for individuals leaving shelter can feel very limited in the city,” said Dr. Jeanine Costley, Senior Vice President of Transitional Services at ICL. “This environment allows them to have an apartment, to have their own space, and really heal from the trauma of homelessness.”

For residents like Victor Rivera, the move has been life-changing. Victor and his 88-year-old mother spent years moving from place to place before landing in a shelter, where they shared a single room with others and struggled with basic daily needs.

“We had to share a room with other people – sometimes they weren’t clean,” Rivera said. “I like this place here because my mom is comfortable. She’s happy. She got her room and I got my room.”

While in the shelter, even meals were a challenge. Rivera recalls rigid meal schedules and limited options.

“They had certain times to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We ate hero sandwiches for like four months every day for lunch,” he said. “I’d be buying breakfast, lunch, and dinner all at the same time and keeping it in the room.”

Today, life looks very different. Residents now prepare warm meals in their own kitchens and have access to amenities such as a gym, a rooftop deck, and on-site health services, features that support both physical well-being and a sense of dignity.

Another unique aspect of the development is what’s coming next door. An adjacent space will soon become an Institute for Community Living office, bringing essential programs and services even closer to the residents and the surrounding community.

“We have all of these services on site that help provide tenants with the support that they need to continue living here,” Dr. Costley said.

For Rivera, the true value of The Atlantic goes beyond modern amenities or added security. It’s about belonging.

“At the end of the day, it didn’t matter about it being a new building, that’s cool,” he said. “It didn’t really matter about the security. It’s just it’s ours.”

Dr. Costley tells News 12 that The Atlantic is expected to be fully occupied by March 2026.

New York’s incoming mayor has vowed less red tape and a brisker pace when it comes to residential construction — he’s also promised a rent freeze

But his proposals have deeply divided property owners. Affordable housing developers have hailed Mamdani’s goal to triple the number of subsidized homes constructed annually and his pledge to cut red tape within city agencies.

The city’s real estate titans, many of whom backed Mamdani’s mayoral opponent Andrew Cuomo, have bristled at his plans to push for higher corporate and income taxes, and worry about his approach to public safety. Residential landlords warned that a lengthy rent freeze on their rent-regulated units would tip their multifamily properties into bankruptcy.

“The industry is pragmatic, not ideological, and is quantitatively based,” Jordan Barowitz, a principal at Barowitz Advisory and a former executive at The Durst Organization, said. “So, when numbers pencil out they’re happy, and when they don’t they’re sad.”

Mamdani knows that winning over one of the city’s top industries will accomplish some of his affordability goals. Over the past few months, he has met with prominent real estate CEOs and attended roundtables with developers to hear their concerns. His recognition of the private market’s role in solving the city’s housing shortage, and early appointment of Dean Fuleihan as first deputy mayor while retaining Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, may soothe their anxieties.

But the challenges Mamdani faces are immense. He will need cooperation from Albany, N.Y., for any changes to city tax rates. Plenty of other barriers prevent the construction of subsidized housing at the scale that Mamdani wants. And President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding if he is unhappy with the new mayor, which could cripple the city’s budget.

“We’re still dealing with a fragile COVID recovery and lots of economic uncertainty from Washington, so it’s far from an ideal time to raise taxes,” one real estate executive told Commercial Observer. “Appointments and execution are the biggest steps [Mamdani] can make, but the taxation side of the equation will keep business and real estate appropriately paranoid.”

One of Mamdani’s most enduring campaign slogans was to pause rents on the city’s 1 million rent-regulated apartments.

He can’t ice rents directly, but Mamdani will have the power to appoint like-minded members to the city’s Rent Guidelines Board. This year, the board voted to increase rents by 3 percent on one-year leases and by 4.5 percent for two-year leases. It’s the fourth straight year the Rent Guidelines Board has approved a rent increase.

Mayor Eric Adams is considering appointing as many as five new members to the nine-member board before his term expires on Dec. 31. But tenant groups are pressuring candidates to refuse the position, while Mamdani could seek to remove them next year.

Beyond the political machinations, multifamily landlords warned that the new mayor must also address the rising costs of maintaining their properties. Insurance for rent-stabilized buildings skyrocketed 150 percent between 2019 and 2025, while maintenance costs jumped 39 percent and utility bills rose 31 percent over the same period, according to a New York University Furman Center report.

“The rent-stabilized housing stock is in a precarious position,” Barowitz said. “If there is going to be a rent freeze, we need to think about providing relief to owners for expenses.”

Mamdani has promised to help landlords lower their operating costs through city subsidies and to tackle property tax reform to lower their tax burdens. But property owners have not utilized existing programs that offer cash subsidies to lease out their vacant apartments because they are unworkable.

“What [the Mamdani team] doesn’t understand is that this housing is struggling, but cash infusion will not save it,” Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, which represents city landlords, said. “You can’t ask property owners to put money into an apartment that won’t see a return and then operate that very apartment at a monthly loss. It fundamentally doesn’t work.”

Carlina Rivera, who left the New York City Council this summer to lead the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, said that the city must set up the right infrastructure to help distressed buildings where operational costs are outpacing rental incomes.

“There are plenty of people in the industry who want to come together to bring costs down,” she said. “Construction costs are high, and we want to make sure some of the legislation and ideas are really considered by his team as they put forward their plans.”

Building new homes in a city as heavily regulated as New York is complicated, but Mamdani will assess ways to simplify the process.

On the campaign trail, the Queens Assemblyman frequently spoke about cutting bloat at government agencies and speeding up bureaucratic processes for securing permits, completing safety inspections and issuing approvals.

The Adams administration tried to improve these processes, allegedly hastening building approvals for well-connected developers to their detriment. One instance drew the FBI’s attention when a whistleblower said Adams pressured the Fire Department to allow the Turkish government to open its Manhattan consulate before resolving the building’s safety issues.

But many residential developers continue to grapple with long waits to obtain permits that can disrupt construction schedules and increase project costs.

Camber Property Group founding principal Rick Gropper, who prepared a policy memo on affordable housing for the Mamdani transition team, said the new mayor must improve coordination between agencies that conduct safety and environmental reviews.

“Removing some of the barriers to getting buildings online as quickly as possible has the potential to save hundreds of millions of dollars in carry costs, which ultimately results in the creation of additional housing units that take pressure off the housing stock,” he said.

Rivera has urged the incoming administration to streamline the permitting process by creating a public dashboard for people to see when approvals happen.

“Transparency is something the campaign has been very clear about, and this will help get projects off the ground more quickly, reduce costs and maintain their timelines,” she said.

Mamdani may also look to expedite the housing voucher process, a topic that came up during a roundtable discussion with affordable housing developers before Mamdani’s election. In 2023, the city eliminated a 90-day waiting period for homeless New Yorkers to obtain rental assistance vouchers, but tenants have experienced lengthy waits to move into their new homes due to delays in reviewing applications, inspecting buildings and receiving payments.

“He was very interested in trying to understand how the government can move people into apartments more quickly,” David Schwartz, co-founder of Slate Property Group, said. “He wasn’t just meeting with us to check a box. He wanted to learn.”

Mayor Adams did leave his successor with a nice parting gift.

In November, voters approved several ballot measures written by Adams’s Charter Revision Commission that will shift power from the City Council to the City Planning Commission to  approve some affordable housing projects, and create an appeals process for proposed affordable developments the City Council rejected.

Mamdani waited until Election Day to support five of the ballot proposals, but it remains unclear how he will use them.

Regardless, he will be busy in the coming months.

Camber Property Group owns the Strand, a 132-unit apartment complex that opened in 2020

On Tuesday, New Yorkers voted to pass three housing ballot proposals to amend the city’s charter, streamlining the approvals process for several types of developments. The ballot measures, which passed by about 20 percent (nearly 60 percent in favor, and a little over 40 percent against), with about 98 percent of the vote counted, were perhaps not as closely scrutinized as the mayoral polls, but they represent a major change in how the city builds housing, and were highly controversial — one of the main ways they fast-tracked the approvals process was by shifting power from local councilmembers to the mayor and borough presidents.

The City Council portrayed the proposals as a power grab that would return the city to a Robert Moses era of top-down decision-making that would give developers a blank check and weaken the ability of local representatives to negotiate for more and deeper affordable housing, schools, parks, and other public benefits with them. But on Election Day, several councilmembers, including Erik Bottcher (representing Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen) and Shaun Abreu (Morningside Heights and West Harlem), came out in support of all the measures. Lincoln Restler, whose district includes Downtown Brooklyn, had previously said he backed Proposals 2 and 3. Zohran Mamdani, the only mayoral candidate to demur when asked to weigh in on the proposals in the lead-up to the election (Andrew Cuomo was for; Curtis Sliwa against), said on Election Day that he voted for all three of them. As he told Brian Lehrer on WNYC, the city’s urgent need for new housing had guided his decision. In the end, voters also decided that the need for affordable housing outweighed concerns about diminishing community power. With their passage, Mamdani as mayor gets a boost toward his goal of building 200,000 more units of permanently affordable housing over the next ten years.

What’s next now that the proposals have passed? We talked to Vicki Been, faculty director at NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, who also served for three years as the commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development under Bill de Blasio; housing developer Rick Gropper of Camber Property Group; and Layla Law-Gisiko, president of the City Club of New York, a civic organization that opposed the proposals, to share what they expect to happen.

Vicki Been, Faculty director at NYU Furman Center, former HPD commissioner

I think the variance procedure in Proposition 3, which allows developers to build projects that involve a modest size or a density increase, is underappreciated and will make a huge difference. We started a clinic where students represented faith-based organizations that want to build projects that require variances from the board of standards and appeals, and it’s amazing how hard it is to build anything larger on so much New York City land: the 40 percent of NYC land zoned for low-density development. HPD doesn’t have the resources to work on a ten-unit building, but we need a lot of ten-unit buildings. Proposition 3 will allow for a lot more of that.

The other thing I think the proposals will do is provide an enforcement mechanism for the fair-housing requirement in the City of Yes. I think it’s the right idea that every community should step up and allow housing to be built, and this substantiates that notion. Some neighborhoods have not built more than seven units in the last few years. This reduces the threat that many councilmembers make: “Don’t come into my district, I will vote against you and the City Council will go along with me.” Developers won’t propose projects in certain neighborhoods because it’s not worth it. This tempers that. The charter revisions will lead to more housing and more types of housing in low-density neighborhoods, which is housing the city needs. And changing three units to five or six units won’t change the nature of the neighborhoods.

Layla Law-Gisiko, President of the City Club of New York (and former land-use committee chair on Community Board 5, in midtown Manhattan)

The propositions really re-regulate the way new developments and buildings are approved. It changes who gets to say yes and takes away the checks and balances that are an important part of the process.

Now mayoral appointees have the only seat at the table. For two out of three proposals, the City Council will not play any role at all. The City Club took the position to oppose these ballot proposals and we’re really concerned about the shifting of power.

I don’t think they will increase affordable housing. The reality is that housing production is a very complex issue. The lack of it cannot be summed up by “zoning is the bottleneck.” The most important factor that determines whether a residential building will be built is the ability to access capital. The zoning is only a marginal factor. It’s simplifying to say changing the approvals process will change what gets built. There aren’t other policy proposals or subsidies that go with these proposals. The market will generate whatever generates a profit. If it’s a quadruplex for billionaires, that’s what developers will build.

Zoning is not meant to be some sort of punishing thing meant to make a city miserable. Zoning is a way to manage growth, so we don’t just rely on the market. If we create something that’s not allowed by the current zoning, let’s think about the externalities: Do we need more school seats, more green space? Zoning has been described like it’s this evil tool. Zoning is great. Rezonings are approved all the time. We just approved a massive rezoning — City of Yes. If we need to tweak the zoning, let’s tweak the zoning. Deregulating is working against what a city planner should be doing. Are we now advocating for bad-quality developments?

What I think we’re going to get now is all the land-use attorneys getting busy in granularly understanding the new rules, then they will work with architects and planners to design buildings that fall under that rule.

I don’t trust the mayor to negotiate greater affordability. I’ve been working with developers for 20 years. I know that they will try to do something that is incredibly egregious the first time they bring a proposal. And now, if it doesn’t get approved by the City Council, they will get the panel to approve it.

Rick Gropper, Affordable-housing developer, Camber Property Group, which has built 3,000 new residential units

The ballot measures will have a dramatic impact on the way developers think about buying and developing land. You’ll have more certainty when buying land, which will allow you to build more affordable housing. You don’t have to take on the risk of a rezoning where even when you’re turning an empty parking lot into affordable housing, it might get rejected.

We rezoned a site in Bushwick in 2018, 1601 Dekalb, where we turned a parking lot into 127 units of affordable housing. It was 100 percent affordable, but we were met with significant community resistance. People were saying that it wasn’t affordable enough. There’s such a shortage of housing in that neighborhood and yet it took us three years to get this passed. We went through ULURP; it’s nine months after you certify into ULURP, but certifying into ULURP is the deterrent. It can be $3 million to get through a rezoning. If we had to go back, I don’t think we would rezone it again.

I think three years is about average, but it can be longer. Or it can just not happen at all. Like the rezoning on 145th Street that was 50 percent affordable. In 2022, developer Bruce Teitelbaum withdrew an application for a project in Harlem that would have had 915 units, half of which would have been income-restricted, after the local councilmember said she would not support the project unless 57 percent of the units were affordable to households earning no more than 30 percent of the area median income. Later, another plan for the site was approved after a new councilmember was elected, with less units overall and less affordable housing.

The charter revision cuts out some of those deterrents. If we did this project today, it could be fast-tracked as 100 percent affordable under Proposal 2. And it might also qualify for the expedited land-use review process. A lot of affordable-housing developers have started looking to build more projects outside New York because of the capital outlay (the costs associated with acquiring and getting approvals), the risk, and the time it takes to build in the city. I think this will hopefully get some of them back. We should make it easier for people building affordable to do the right thing. The developer at the 145th Street project was providing real and meaningful housing and the deal just did not go through. The charter reform and ballot proposals could help another developer in a similar position.

A ribbon cutting ceremony was recently held to mark the opening of 2886 Atlantic Avenue, a ten-story affordable housing development in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. Designed by JFA Architects & Engineers and developed by Camber Property Group, the nearly 128,000-square-foot structure yields 182 deeply affordable units. The project also includes 5,200 square feet of commercial space and a 56-vehicle parking facility. The New York City Department of Social Services (DSS) and the Institute for Community Living (ICL) will operate and manage the property, which is bounded by Atlantic Avenue to the north, Jerome Street to the east, and Barbey Street to the west.

The celebration was attended by DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park and ICL President Jody Rudin. The development is the first in Brooklyn created by the DSS’s Affordable Housing Services initiative, a new effort that aims to create 1,500 permanent affordable homes for New Yorkers in the shelter system.

The property was formerly occupied by a gas station, as seen in the below Google Street View image from before its demolition.

Homes are available in studio to three-bedroom layouts, and are designated for New Yorkers exiting the shelter system and those with behavioral health needs.

Residential amenities include a virtual doorman, bike storage room, laundry room, live-in super, package room, cold storage space, and ADA accessibility. There is also a children’s playroom, fitness center, media room, courtyard, and a rooftop deck.

“With New York City facing an historically low housing vacancy rate, we cannot rely on the status quo to meet the moment,” said Wasow Park. “We must leverage our resources in new and innovative ways to create desperately needed affordable housing, and with the Affordable Housing Service initiative, we are thrilled to do just that.”

Camber Property Group acquired the property for $72 million from The Jay Group earlier this year. The purchase was backed by a $94.3 million loan issued by UMB Bank. Aaron Jungreis, Ben Khakshoor and Alex Fuchs from Rosewood Realty Group, as well as Scott Dweck from Latitude Property Group, represented the buyer and seller.

The nearest subways from the property are the J and Z trains at the Van Siclen Avenue station to the north above Fulton Street, as well as the C train at the Van Siclen station to the south along Pitkin Avenue.

The affordable housing lottery has launched for Stevenson Senior Residences, a six-story residential building at 1841 Seward Avenue in Clason Point, The Bronx. Developed by Camber Property Group and designed by WXY Architecture + Urban Design in collaboration with NV5, the structure yields 117 residences. Available on NYC Housing Connect are 40 units for residents at 50 percent of the area median income (AMI), ranging in eligible income from $0 to $64,800.

Amenities include an elevator, a shared laundry room, community center, gym, outdoor terrace, and an on-site resident manager. Units are equipped with name-brand kitchen appliances and high-speed internet.

At 50 percent of the AMI, there are 40 studios with a monthly rent equivalent to 30 percent of their income for eligible tenants for incomes ranging from $0 to $64,800. Tenants are responsible for electricity including stove.

Households with at least one member aged 62 or older at the time of application are eligible to apply, if they meet the income and household size requirements. Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than December 19, 2025.

On September 26, the New York City Public Housing Preservation Trust announced that a contract has been executed with the design-build team, Fifth Avenue Builders (FAB), that will perform over $93 million of renovation work in apartments and shared spaces at Bronx River Addition in the borough’s Soundview neighborhood. Following the Trust Board’s approval on July 8, 2025, and the selection of the design-build team, the contract execution marks a major milestone for the project, which encompasses 226 apartments across two buildings. This project will deliver holistic repairs to the second NYCHA development to vote for the Trust, with that vote taking place in April 2024. Residents of Bronx River Addition have been involved in robust engagement efforts since August 2024 and will provide valuable input to the selected design-build team to inform the design process, including finishes, colors, and other design elements.

“Congratulations to the NYCHA and Trust teams and the residents at Bronx River Addition for getting to this important step in the Trust process,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Adolfo Carrión, Jr. “I look forward to seeing this team deliver comprehensive renovations that will make the lives of residents significantly better.”

“I am excited to see that a team was selected – informed by resident input on priorities and scope – that will deliver comprehensive improvements across all 226 apartments through the Public Housing Preservation Trust,” said Executive Director for Housing Leila Bozorg. “Today’s announcement comes after extensive work and engagement with residents, and the design-build process should help ensure that the work will be completed expeditiously and efficiently. I look forward to seeing residents enjoy these improvements in the coming years as the teams hit important milestones towards closing and completion.”

“The selection of the design-build team for Bronx River Addition represents a significant milestone for the second NYCHA development that voted to receive comprehensive renovations through the Public Housing Preservation Trust,” said NYCHA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt. “It’s incredibly rewarding to see the vision for the development, driven by over a year of resident input, beginning to take shape, and we look forward to delivering these much-needed, holistic renovations for all of the residents who will benefit from modernized and healthier homes.”

“Partnering with Fifth Avenue Builders at Bronx River Addition is the next step in turning resident priorities into reality,” said New York City Public Housing Preservation Trust President Vlada Kenniff. “This design-build team will work hand in hand with residents to deliver modern, safe, and resilient homes while preserving the mission of public housing. Together, we are creating spaces where seniors and families can live with dignity, stability, and pride for years to come.”

“Our residents deserve a safe and comfortable place to live after spending their lives working hard and helping to build this community,” said Bronx River and Bronx River Addition Resident Association President Norma Saunders. “We are excited about the Trust renovations and confident that the selected design-build team will carry out the work diligently and in true collaboration with residents. These improvements are not just about fixing buildings, they are about restoring dignity and ensuring that residents can live in comfort and peace.”

“I applaud the Trust’s leadership team for organizing a fair and transparent process resulting in the selection of the design-build team,” said New York City Public Housing Preservation Trust Board Member John Dionisio Jr. “The Fifth Avenue Builders team members have delivered successful affordable housing modernizations in New York City, which provides confidence in the team’s ability to deliver at Bronx River Addition.”

The selection of the design-build team followed a two-step procurement process. The first step was a Request for Qualifications (RFQ), which invited design-build teams to submit their qualifications. This was followed by the issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP) in January 2025, which targeted a short list of firms with an invitation to submit detailed proposals outlining their approach to the project, including the scope of work, quality of the design, impact on residents, project duration, and cost. The selection committee, including a resident representative, property management, and capital projects professionals, evaluated these proposals to determine which one offered the best value to the respective sites.

The project will undertake renovations through a single, integrated team, allowing developments to be renovated more quickly, at a better quality, and with better value for money spent. The Trust is utilizing design-build project delivery, which improves coordination, shortens the procurement process, and ultimately saves money by awarding contracts to single entities for both design and construction work.

Beginning in the months immediately following the vote, efforts have been guided by a robust stakeholder engagement process to identify resident priorities and implement input at the development, ensure that the final scope will address all pillar areas identified in the 2019 Agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and support continued communication during renovation through a dedicated community liaison. In August and September 2024, the Trust organized two community visioning workshops with residents of Bronx River Addition to tailor the scope of work based on feedback from resident leadership and property management. Insight gained through these workshops directly informed the RFP issued to the short list of design and construction firms, which ultimately led to the selection of Fifth Avenue Builders. Since then, the Trust held or attended 20 community meetings, distributed more than 1,880 flyers, and engaged directly with nearly 350 residents. In addition, a dedicated liaison serves as the main point of contact for residents, regularly attending tenant association meetings and staffing the Engagement Office.

The Fifth Avenue Builders (FAB) team, formed as a joint venture between Urban Atelier Group and Camber Property Group, leverages decades of experience delivering large-scale rehabilitation projects through public-private partnerships, representing more than $1 billion in development. The FAB design team brings extensive expertise in managing complex projects with a focus on collaboration and creative problem-solving. Collectively, the team is dedicated to creating and preserving communities that are healthy, safe, accessible, and dynamic.

Bronx River Addition contains 226 apartments across two buildings. In 2022, one building’s population had to be relocated due to severe issues affecting the aging and deteriorating heating distribution system, leaving that one building vacant. The projected scope of improvements involves complete window replacements; full kitchen and bathroom upgrades, including floor replacements; and comprehensive electric heating, plumbing, electrical, and ventilation system updates. Additional work involves elevator replacements, structural repairs, hazardous material abatement, as well as the incorporation of “aging in place” design features in the units.

The removal of environmental hazards, such as lead-based materials and mold, will necessitate the brief, phased temporary relocation of residents both onsite and to neighboring developments at the Trust’s expense. Once this work is fully completed, residents will be able to return to their apartments within nine months of their temporary relocation.

As part of the modernization of Bronx River Addition, the Trust will oversee design and construction. Under the Trust, the development is kept 100 percent public and converted to the more stable, federally funded Project-Based Section 8 program, while residents maintain their rights, including permanently affordable rent. The design, financing, and construction process for this property is expected to be completed by mid-2028.

The mission behind Building Skills NY is to help underemployed New Yorkers build meaningful careers. The nonprofit — and longtime Camber partner — works with developers, contractors and community organizations to connect local residents to jobs in construction.

Last week, during the annual fundraiser, the team at BSNY recognized Fifth Avenue Builders, our joint venture with Urban Atelier Group, as General Contractor of the Year — an honor we’re especially proud of in light of our own mission around developing affordable housing that strengthens communities.