Affordable Housing Lottery Opens for Fort Greene Apartments Near BQE With A/C, in-Unit Laundry

An affordable housing lottery has opened for studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments in a forthcoming mixed-income development on Vanderbilt Avenue a few blocks northeast of Fort Greene Park. One block south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the property runs along Park Avenue, home to the elevated Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

The under-construction nine-story building at 58 Vanderbilt Avenue (also listed as 205 Park Avenue) in the Wallabout section of Fort Greene will have 90 apartments in total, a rooftop terrace, and daycare center on the ground floor, according to building permits.

While most of the residences will be market rate in this for-profit development, 23 are earmarked as affordable under the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning program — required for builds that benefit from a rezoning. The rent-stabilized, income-restricted units are aimed at households earning from 40 percent to 110 percent of Area Median Income, or $28,629 to $139,810 for one to five people.

The monthly rent for a studio will range from $749 to $2,212, one-bedrooms from $796 to $2,363, and two-bedrooms will cost between $944 and $1,481.

According to NYC Housing Connect, each unit includes a washer and dryer, dishwasher, air conditioning, and intercom. Tenants pay for electricity, which includes heat, but hot water and gas for cooking are included in the monthly rent. The building has security cameras and a virtual doorman.

Bike storage lockers are available for $25 to $40 per month, and a gym, recreational room, party room, business center, outdoor terrace, and rooftop terrace can be accessed with a $125 a month amenities fee. While the building faces the BQE on the Park Avenue side, renderings seem to show the roof terrace facing Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is one block away.

According to the listing, the building is anticipated to receive the 421-a tax exemption. Building permits have the building’s owner listed as 462 Lexington LLC, with Bruchy Lefkowitz as signatory, and the architect as J Frankl Associates.

462 Lexington LLC purchased the property from Yeshivas Beis Limudei Hashem, Jewish Center, in 2007 for $2.185 million, according to tax documents. At the time, the lot was zoned commercial and housed a three-story brick building, which was demolished in 2017.

The lot adjoins the site of the old Navy Brig, a naval prison built in the early 1940s and shuttered in 1966. After closing, the building was used by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (later renamed Immigration Control and Enforcement) until 1984, when it was again used as a prison, this time by the city, and later closed in 1994.

The city announced in 2007 that the former Navy Brig site, bordered by Vanderbilt, Flushing, and Clermont avenues, and the 205 Park Avenue site to the south, would be turned into “a mixed-income housing complex with townhouses, co-op apartments, rental apartments, supportive housing, a day care center and perhaps even an environmentally friendly dry cleaner,” The New York Times reported at the time.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development said then that the 103,000-square-foot site would be developed through a partnership between the Dunn Development Corporation and L&M Equity Participants Ltd., resulting in 434 housing units.

Over the following decade, the companies built the Navy Green development on the 103,000 square foot site, which includes approximately 460 housing units, commercial and community facilities, and open green space, according to the project’s website. “The complex is a combination of supportive housing, affordable rental, mixed-income condos and market-rate town homes,” the site says.

The site of 58 Vanderbilt, which runs along Park Avenue, was signed over to Kethy Jules-Elysee by the state’s Administration Of General Services in 2001. In 2003, Jules-Elysee transferred the deed to Yeshivas Bais Limude, Hashem Jewish Center For Special Education, who sold it on to the current LLC owners.

The lottery closes August 15. To apply, visit the listing on New York City’s Housing Connect website.

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