Dattner Architects

Some blocks get all the history. West 135th Street in Harlem, between 7th Avenue and Lenox, was one of the proudest blocks in the neighborhood during Harlem's glory years. In 1910, the St. Philip's Episcopal Church -- the wealthiest of uptown's black churches during that period -- bought the block of homes on 135th Street, with the intention of renting them to parishioners. At the time, the row of stately townhomes were the first buildings that far uptown to belong to an African American landlord. The block was later the home (and one of the main subjects) of the famed photographer James Van Der Zee. These days, the block is notably worse for wear, but headed for another encounter with New York City history.

The Jonathan Rose Companies' Smart Growth Investment Fund - the first real estate fund in the country to focus exclusively on acquiring and greening existing buildings - announced yesterday that it has made its first such acquisition here in New York City. The Fund has purchased 198 affordable housing units, along with 4500 square feet of ground floor retail space, at 107-145 West 135th Street in Harlem for $26.5 million. Dattner Architects will work with the Fund to execute a green capital improvement program across the acquisition's ten six-story buildings. The program will follow the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria, as well as participate in NYSERDA's Multifamily Building Performance Program.

Interestingly, the properties' Section 8 contracts with HUD were set to expire at the end of 2008, but the Fund worked with HUD to negotiate both an interim renewal and a fresh 20-year contract that will keep the properties affordable. The New York City Acquisition Fund provided an acquisition loan to the Fund; NYCAF provides both acquisition and predevelopment loans to affordable housing developers.

On Monday, Jonathan Rose Companies and the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (“HCCI”), co-developers of David & Joyce Dinkins Gardens, opened the $19.5 million, 85-unit green building at 263 West 153rd Street, just across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Macomb Place. The project is named for former New York City Mayor David Dinkins and his wife- Mr. Dinkins is the only African-American to serve as mayor in Gotham’s history- and the development is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to build 165,000 units of affordable housing for 500,000 New Yorkers over the next ten years.

  Brokers Build is a campaign spearheaded by New York City’s real estate brokers to raise $1 million in order to help build a forty-one unit, three building affordable condominium development in Brooklyn in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity - double the number of homes that Habitat constructs in New York during a typical year.