Leaders from throughout the city and borough recently joined with local residents at the Big Six Towers in Woodside to celebrate New York City Affordable Housing Day.
Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert C. Lieber, New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC) President Marc Jahr and NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Commissioner Rafael E. Cestero joined Deputy Borough President Barry Grodenchik and City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer to talk about the successful financing of 100,000 affordable homes in the city under Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s leadership.
“Developing and preserving affordable housing for the city’s middle income families is a critical component of our commitment to create 165,000 units of affordable housing, and keeping Big Six affordable through the next 30 years is a great step forward towards achieving that goal,” Lieber said. “Working with the tenants of Big Six, the city will help to maintain and improve the buildings while ensuring that these units remain affordable housing for our police officers, nurses, teachers and public employees and other middle income New Yorkers.”
The big Six Towers, located on Queens Boulevard and 61st Street, were built in 1963 as a city-subsidized Mitchell-Lama cooperative. The 983-unit co-op consists of seven 16-story towers, a shopping center and power plant that provides electricity and heat for the residential and commercial spaces.
Like many other Mitchell-Lama developments, Big Six needed major capital improvements to ensure that the facilities can continue to serve its community. Repairs needed at Big Six included the replacement of windows and patio doors, walkway and parking lot repaving, and extensive repairs to the shopping centers façade. Due to lack of funding prior, these projects had been put on hold.
However, working with the tenants, HDC stepped in to provide approximately $35 million in bonds through its Mitchell-Lama Preservation Program, to restructure Big Six Towers’ debt and fund over $11 million in capital repairs. In return, the tenants agreed to keep the complex in the Mitchell-Lama program and under a regulatory agreement for an additional 30-year term.
“Affordable housing is one of the most critical needs facing the families of Queens. I applaud HPD and HDC’s combined efforts to preserve one of the crown jewels of Queens, the Big Six,” Borough President Helen Marshall said. “We continue to work together to replicate these efforts across Queens County to develop and preserve affordable housing for all our residents.”
