In cities across America, people tolerate distressed living conditions because they have no other option. In New York City, for example, the housing shortage reached a crisis point in 2014 after decades of neglect and insufficient funding. A historic lack of preservation and investment in infrastructure in housing across New York has had dire effects on the city’s housing stock.
Housing affordability has been another major concern in New York. Between 2005 and 2012, rents in New York City climbed 11 percent while renters’ incomes stagnated. More than 30 percent of rental households in the city spend more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing.
A high vacancy rate and lack of capital for improvements have plagued low-income properties in New York City and other urban centers. Bessie Norman, a retired housekeeper and mother of eight, remembered when vermin overran her Ocean Village apartment just a few years ago in the Rockaways, an 11-mile-long peninsula in Queens, New York. “I thought the mice and roaches were going to run me out of here.”
Arverne View resident Bessie Norman has lived here since 1993.
Army veteran Arturo Dixon moved into Ocean Village in 1977 and raised five boys here. His children finished high school and left the Rockaways as soon as they could, except one son who was killed at age 16 in the parking lot on Memorial Day, 1989. “Some kids from the projects came over and started shooting.”
The dark and crumbling sprawl once known as Ocean Village—a drug haven that was 30 percent vacant and owed $100 million in debt—received a final, punishing blow during Hurricane Sandy. Before the storm roared through in October 2012, the property, which sits on the Atlantic Ocean, had been deteriorating since opening in 1974. The buildings were definitely not constructed to weather a hurricane.
Arturo Dixon shares family photos in his renovated Arverne View apartment.
Resident Damaris Ward remembered the days that followed Hurricane Sandy as “devastating. People were not able to leave their houses. It was really dark and scary, like a war zone.” Seven hundred tenants lived with no electricity, heat or plumbing for a month, and numerous apartments were submerged.
In the Rockaways, the storm’s effects were an urgent reminder of the systemic need for affordable housing in New York. Addressing this shortage of safe, sustainable housing is critical to the success of any major city and its people, but it takes substantial financing and resources. The affordable housing deficit in New York City has prompted private-sector innovators like L+M Development Partners and work with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to produce lasting solutions that also enhance communities.
Damaris Ward shows off her fully remodeled kitchen in her Arverne View apartment.
A particularly effective way to overhaul residences like Ocean Village has been through partnerships that are both financially viable and dedicated to social and economic development. Matthew Wambua, the former New York City Housing Preservation and Development commissioner, said: “The only hope this project had of succeeding is through a public-private partnership.”
L+M and NYCHA saw an opportunity to revitalize the Rockaways property months before the hurricane hit land. “We were confident in our ability to come in and use the collective resources of our partners to turn around a bad situation and build a community where people could be proud of where they live,” said Rick Gropper, L+M’s director of development.
The final ingredient to bring the project to life was financing. L+M and NYCHA worked with Citi to finance the purchase and renovation in partnership with the New York Housing Development Corporation. So committed to seeing the project through that not even a major storm could stop them, the team closed on the deal just two days after Hurricane Sandy flooded the complex with seawater and knocked out utilities. These partners then worked to transform Ocean Village into a safe, affordable housing community now known as Arverne View.
Aerial perspective of Arverne View and Rockaway Beach.
Matt Bissonette, Citi’s banker for the project, equates Citi’s investment and financial support of the redevelopment to fuel in a car: “You need the money to do the work, and you get paid back over time, but someone needs to step up initially to provide that funding and do what needs to be done.”
L+M has already preserved thousands of vulnerable housing units and will continue to invest in and rehabilitate more homes throughout the New York metro area. “Citi’s financial expertise and support on these funds has been integral to their success,” said Eben Ellertson, L+M’s director of acquisitions.
After Sandy, L+M worked with local and federal government and non-profit organizations to coordinate care for displaced residents as the $60 million project launched to rebuild resident units and renovate building facades.
Exteriors were sealed and waterproofed with insulation and weather-resistant paint. Mechanical and electrical systems were elevated to higher floors as a preventative measure for future storms. A full security system with perimeter fencing was installed.
L+M added basketball courts, playgrounds, a boardwalk and a sea-resistant protective wall, as well as salt-tolerant native plant species and 300 new trees. “We tried to do more than just a typical rehab and fix existing problems, and took more of a holistic approach to building a community where people could be proud of where they live,” Gropper said.
While Ocean Village suffered from widespread deterioration, buildings at Arverne View were completely refitted.
Today, Arverne View boasts 1,093 affordable rental apartments amid warmly painted exteriors, spotless hallways, treed walkways, playgrounds and ocean boardwalk. Rent ranges from $1,150 for a studio to $2,350 for five bedrooms—well below average for Queens.
Since 2013, the improvements at Arverne View and long-term commitment from Citi, L+M and NYCHA are keeping former residents in their homes and attracting new tenants. Gerson Valenzuela, Arvene View’s compliance manager, said the units now have a wait list of six months to a year.
Gerson Valenzuela, Arverne View’s compliance manager, and maintenance manager Leon McKoy stroll the property.
Arverne residents say that today, the roaches and mice are gone, and friends and family love to visit. The community is thriving. “It’s beautiful to me. I rate it a 10,” Norman said.