Slate Property Group has acquired the 296-unit Queenswood Apartments community in Queens’ Corona neighborhood from Brookfield Properties, with plans to extend affordability for residents at the two-building site.
The sales price for the two eight-story buildings at 54-09 100th St. and 54-39 100th St. was not disclosed. Slate will make major improvements to the buildings, including installing new roofing, insulation, solar panels and upgrading kitchens and bathrooms.
Queenswood Apartments was built under the 421a program in the 1990s, but the affordable housing mandate for the property recently faced expiration. Slate, the New York City Housing Development Corp. and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development have secured a new affordability agreement for the community that ensures all current residents remain in place at their existing legal rents. Upon re-rental, rents for tenants with qualifying incomes will be lowered from the existing 80 percent of Area Median Income to 180 percent. For example, families of three earning approximately $38,000 will be able to qualify for units now reserved for families of three making $100,000.
David Schwartz, principal at New York-based Slate Property Group, said in a prepared statement that by working with the city’s housing agencies, the company was able to keep Queenswood Apartments an affordable community and increase affordability.
Affordable property
Constructed in 1990, the buildings have studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans. Amenities include a playground and private courtyard, controlled access gated entry, 24-hour laundry facility and onsite parking. The nearest subway station is less than three-quarters of a mile away with access to the M and R trains and access to the 7 train is less than a mile from the complex.
Under the expiring 421a affordable housing program, 20 percent of the apartments, or 59 units, were set aside for low-income households earning up to 80 percent AMI. The majority, 80 percent, or 236 units, were set aside for households earning no more than 180 percent AMI.
The 421a program was a property tax exemption available to multifamily developers in New York City to incentivize them to include affordable units in market-rate properties. That program has expired and the state legislature has not replaced it. Article XI is administered by the NYC HPD and offers partial tax exemptions to owners who agree to long-term affordable housing requirements and is considered one of the most important tools currently available in New York City to preserve existing affordable housing.
Under the Article XI program guidelines for Queenswood Apartments, current legal rents remain in place, subject to Rent Stabilization rules. Rents for new residents will be further restricted, with rents set to 30 percent AMI for 35 units, 50 percent AMI for eight units, 80 percent AMI for 230 units and 100 percent AMI for 22 units.
Slate’s NYC portfolio
The acquisition comes one month after Slate and KABR Group, in partnership with Avenue Realty Capital’s equity platform, purchased 600 Columbus Ave., a 166-unit, mixed-use property on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, from Columbus Townhouse Associates in a $120 million deal. At the time of the sale, it was the largest single New York City multifamily acquisition this year. Slate and ARC have now partnered on nine residential transactions with a combined value of approximately $450 million. In 2022, Slate and ARC jointly purchased a development site at 159 Boerum St. in Brooklyn with plans to construct 161 apartments, 30 percent of which will be affordable. The partnership also recently completed and leased up Dutch House, a 186-unit luxury apartment building in Queens, 30 percent of which is affordable housing.
Last month, Slate and RiseBoro Community Partnership broke ground on 326 Rockaway Ave., a 216-unit affordable housing community in Brooklyn that will designate 85 affordable units for residents earning below 60 percent of AMI and 30 supportive units for formerly homeless young adults. Completion of that project is slated for the summer of 2025.
