Sutphin Senior Housing Opens in Queens

The 15-story building features a 24-hour attended lobby, security cameras throughout, multipurpose room for community events and meetings, a library and fitness room, bike storage, onsite laundry, and a landscaped terrace on the second floor. Thirty percent of units are set aside for single adults or couples exiting homelessness, and the balance are affordable to low-income older adults. Onsite property management and social services are provided by Breaking Ground. Supportive social services are funded through a contract with the City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Primary medical care, psychiatric care, and dental care are available within the CHN ground floor clinic. Initial metrics show that nearly 50% of tenants have already utilized CHN services at the onsite clinic.

At the ribbon cutting, tenants, community members, elected officials, State and City agency representatives, and project partners joined us to celebrate what Sutphin brings to the neighborhood and reflect on how it addresses the critical need to create more affordable and supportive apartments for New York's aging population.

The site was formerly a single-story clinic owned and operated by CHN. After acquiring the land, Breaking Ground received a zoning amendment that allowed for 50 additional units to be constructed on the site - almost 40% more than would have been allowed as-of-right for older New Yorkers who need an affordable place to call home. All tenants qualify for a Section 8 project-based rental subsidy with incomes at or below 50% of the area median income (AMI). That includes people just like Juan Rivera, who tells his story in the video below.

Sutphin Senior Housing received financing from New York State Homes & Community Renewal, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the New York State Homeless Housing and Assistance Program, the New York City Council and Queens Borough President's Office, the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York’s Affordable Housing Program, the New York State Energy and Research Authority, and the Environmental Protection Agency's revolving loan program. Capital One invested in the project's Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and Capital One and JP Morgan Chase collaborated to provide a letter of credit. Monadnock Construction, Inc. is the general contractor, Bernheimer Architecture is the project designer, and Bright Power provided Passive House consulting and oversight.

Key philanthropic support for the project was also crucial to site development, most prominently The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and Ilse Melamid. Additional support was provided by National Grid's Cinderella Program.

See our related press release for more information and a full set of quotes from elected officials and project partners.