Faith-based organizations are unlocking their real estate to develop affordable housing, but they face challenges from reluctant local residents, wary lenders and strict zoning laws.
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As Albany struggles — and struggles — to pass measures foster more affordable housing development, some federal housing officials are encouraging churches to fill in the gap.
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The New York City Housing Authority has selected a development team to make $246 million worth of repairs at a pair of South Bronx public housing projects and bring them under private management through its Permanent Affordability Commitment Together program.
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NEW YORK - The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) today announced that capital repairs totaling $246 million will be addressed for nearly 1,500 residents living at Moore Houses and East 152nd Street-Courtlandt Avenue through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, significantly improving living conditions at the developments. Following months of review and engagement with residents, NYCHA and a Resident Review Committee have selected Mega Group Development and Brisa Builders to provide comprehensive repairs to 684 apartments across four buildings at the two Bronx developments. Mega Group Development and Brisa Builders Development, a Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE), will serve as co-developers. Mega Contracting Group will be the general contractor, and Cornell Pace will manage the properties after they convert to Project-Based Section 8.
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Brooklyn, NY Residents and business owners of Brownsville gathered together with Glenmore Manor Managers LLC to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Glenmore Manor. Brisa Builders Development (BBD) is the leader of the joint venture entity Glenmore Manor Managers LLC. Composed of BBD, African American Planning Commission Inc., and Lemle & Wolff Companies, Glenmore Manor Managers LLC is responsible for the project that will bring affordable housing and economic development to Brownsville.
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The development project will create 232 affordable housing units and an entrepreneurial hub.
Local officials are celebrating the start of the construction phase of Glenmore Manor in Brownsville, a game changing affordable housing development.
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Construction is now underway at 97 Glenmore Avenue, the site of a forthcoming affordable housing development in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The building will debut as Glenmore Manor led by private real estate company Brisa Builders Development, non-profit community developer African American Planning Commission Inc., and affordable housing owner-developer Lemle & Wolff Companies.
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The real estate development industry has long been dominated by white-owned companies, with only a small fraction of the 112,000 firms in the United States being Black-owned.
However, Black real estate developers are proving to be just as successful as their white counterparts, and they are also more likely to hire Black owned businesses.
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NEW YORK – The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), in partnership with resident leaders, today designated the non-profit organization Hope Community, Inc. and Brisa Builders Development – a minority- and women-owned business enterprise – to begin the process of renovating 398 apartments to benefit 1,200 residents at Wilson Houses in East Harlem through NYCHA’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program.
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LEWISTON — Brisa Ventures, a New York investment and development firm based in Brooklyn, acquired Place Ste. Marie this week, a 40-unit affordable housing apartment complex on Oxford Street, for an undisclosed price.
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Permits have been filed for a nine-story residential building at 4-44 Beach 67th Street in Far Rockaway, Queens. Located between Beach Channel Drive and Thursby Avenue, the lot is near the Beach 67th Street subway station, serviced by the A train. Ericka Keller-Wala of Brisa Builders Corp. is listed as the owner behind the applications.
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Brisa Builders Corp. is celebrating 25 years of development, construction management and general contracting. The company works along-side faith-based partners to create affordable housing for senior and low-income households. As a family-owned business, Brisa Builders is dedicated to revitalizing pockets of New York where the founders spent most of their lives.
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BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN — A massive affordable housing development in Brownsville has reached its final stages.
The Ebenezer Plaza project — which will bring more than 500 affordable apartments along New Lots Avenue — broke ground this week on its final phase of construction, a 208-unit complex on Christopher Street.
When completed, the complex will mark the final step in the $364 million project, which officials have worked on since at least 2014 as a way to address Brownsville's housing crisis.
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WOONSOCKET — The planned rehabilitation of two mill buildings into apartments in Woonsocket is coming just in the nick of time, as the structures were at risk of being condemned due to water eating away at them.
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Ebenezer Plaza is a three-phased project—comprising of 523 units of affordable housing, 40,000 s/f of community facility and 25,000 s/f of commercial/retail, we commenced construction in July 2018, and we completed the first two phases in November 2021 consisting of 316 units of family housing, 47,500 s/f of community facility and commercial retail core and shell. Aside from the co-developer, we served in the CM role for this project located in Brooklyn, NY, not far from where I grew up.
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February 25, 2022, New York, NY – Enterprise Community Partners, with support from Goldman Sachs, today announced the launch of a new Roundtable that will develop a shared policy platform to include recommendations to confront the challenges faced by Black women affordable housing developers in New York City.
The Roundtable will meet over the course of 2022 and will comprise six for-profit and nonprofit Black women developers: Ericka Keller, Brisa Builders; Dawanna Williams, Dabar Development Partners; Alexis McSween, Bottom Line Construction & Development; Nnenna Lynch, Xylem Projects; Bernell Grier, IMPACCT Brooklyn; and Yvonne Stennett, Community League of the Heights. Participants will ascertain and discuss the unique barriers that they encounter in developing affordable housing in New York City, identify policy priorities to address those barriers, and collectively work to advance and support a shared policy platform.
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This 88-unit senior residence is named for the founders of the Evangelical Crusade Christian Church, a nearby Haitian religious community that originally owned the property and advocated for the project for decades. In 2019, the church and Brisa Builders broke ground on the residence, which opened this past spring. BPHN meets sustainability standards and has a live-in super. The apartments have stainless-steel appliances and a video buzzer. Offices for Selfhelp, a senior-support nonprofit, are on the second floor, and there’s a private outdoor terrace and a community room with a TV. The church plans to open a senior center next door, where it will run yoga programs and host food pantries.
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Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee announced that the Administration’s Housing Resources Commission on Tuesday approved nearly $31 million in awards through the Building Homes Rhode Island (BHRI) program to support 23 affordable housing projects.
These awards will produce or preserve more than 600 units of affordable housing in 13 cities and towns across Rhode Island.
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BELCHERTOWN — A recently awarded $250,000 state grant will allow the town to remove a building from the former Belchertown State School and remediate the site.
The money comes courtesy of the Brownfields Redevelopment Fund, which is administered by MassDevelopment. It will go toward removing the old power plant structure from the site of the Belchertown State School on Carriage Drive and cleaning up the one-acre site on which the structure sits.
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Hundreds of new affordable housing units have come to Brownsville, thanks to a local church that spearheaded the long-in-the-works Ebenezer Plaza development.
The first phase of the project opened Friday atop two lots — one at 672 Powell Street and the other at 96 New Lots Avenue, containing a combined 315 units of affordable housing units.
The units at 672 Powell Street are reserved for households with earnings at or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income.
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