CAMBA Housing Ventures has broken ground on Clarkson Estates, a 328-unit permanently affordable passive housing development in Brooklyn, New York. The project is part of New York’s $1.4 billion Vital Brooklyn initiative focusing on multiple community improvement segments. Completion is expected in spring 2026.
Financing for the $237.9 million project includes:
- $104.8 million in New York State Housing Finance Agency Private Activity Bonds
- $101 million in federal LIHTC equity from Goldman Sachs Asset Management syndicated by CREA
- $2.5 million from the Clean Energy Initiative
- $13.6 million from the Federal Housing Trust Fund
- $10 million from the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance through the Homeless Housing Assistance Program
- $2.5 million from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York Affordable Housing Program
- Rental and service subsides for the supportive units from Empire State Supportive Housing
Designed by CetraRuddy the nine-story property will comprise one-, two- and three-bedroom floorplans. Apartments are reserved for individuals earning at thresholds of 30, 40, 50 and 70 percent of the area median income, with 164 of the units being classified as supportive housing for formerly homeless people and formerly incarcerated individuals. Amenities at the community will feature laundry facilities on every floor, community rooms, computer room, bike storage and basketball gym.
The development also includes 30,000 square feet for supportive facilities such as CAMBA’s Economic Development and Workforce Training Center, Health Homes and Screening Center, Adult Education and Financial Literacy Office, CURE Violence Prevention and Medication Center and the Youth Education and Development Center, along with a food pantry, café and childcare facility.
Affordable housing development in Brooklyn
Located at 329 Clarkson Ave. in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, the Opportunity Zone site previously served as a parking lot for SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Being adjacent to Kings County Hospital and close to Prospect Park, the lot was previously owned by The Health Science Center at Brooklyn Foundation.
As of June, Brooklyn’s under-construction residential pipeline included 18,879 units, of which 27 percent belonged to the fully affordable segment, according to a recent Yardi Matrix report. During the first half of the year, construction started on six properties totaling 1,849 units—representing 12.7 percent of stock. In the same period, only one 135-unit community came online in the borough, the same source shows.
