An unauthorized transient hotel is on its way to becoming permanent supportive housing for individuals with a history of chronic homelessness in New York City.
Zoned for permanent residential use, the single-room occupancy (SRO) property on the Upper West Side operated as an illegal hotel by the prior owner, according to officials.
Formerly known as The Morningside Inn, the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement issued more than $280,000 in fines in response to the prohibited use of the building dating back to 2012, said the new owners.
Rockabill Development, a leading development partner and consultant to nonprofit owners of affordable, supportive, and transitional housing, and Goddard Riverside, a human services nonprofit, announced the closing of $38 million in financing to transform the property.
“At a time when the need for high-quality supportive housing has never been greater, the responsible preservation of SROs is smart public policy and adds to the social safety net for extremely low-income New Yorkers,” says Katie Devine, principal at Rockabill Development. “Rockabill is proud to champion the revival of SROs as permanent supportive housing and reaffirm the critical role this housing model has played in the lives of New Yorkers for more than a century.”
Devine’s firm and Goddard Riverside acquired the property in early 2021, and the project is being touted as a model for preserving New York City’s SROs and providing affordable housing options.
“Every day our outreach teams speak with people living on the street who say they’d come indoors if they could have their own room,” says Roderick L. Jones, president of Goddard Riverside. “We look forward to opening the Stephan Russo Residence to give those people a chance at a better and more dignified life. We believe the neighborhood will also benefit when more people are housed. We appreciate the support we’ve gotten from Upper West Siders, and we look forward to being your neighbor on this project, along with our many existing programs around the UWS."
The property is being renamed in honor of Goddard Riverside’s former executive director Stephan Russo, an innovator in the fight against homelessness who helped pioneer the supportive housing model.
Built in 1912, the property’s 84 units will be reconfigured so that each has a private bathroom—only half of the existing SRO units have private bathrooms, while the remaining have shared bathrooms. This reallocation of space will bring the number of homes in the building down to 68, plus one superintendent’s unit.
Of the 68 households, 54 will receive supportive services and rental assistance through New York City’s 15/15 Supportive Housing Initiative, which provides supportive housing to people who are chronically homeless. Six affordable units will be made available through the city’s housing lottery, Housing Connect, at 60% of the area median income, and the remaining eight affordable units will serve existing long-term residents of the property, whose existing deeply affordable rents will not change, say officials.
Each floor of the six-story building will be outfitted with two communal kitchens and dining areas, which will each be shared by between six and seven tenants. In addition, the first floor and cellar will be renovated to create a community room and dedicated space for crucial case management and social services, which will be managed by Goddard Riverside. Passage to and from the building’s east and north courtyards will be improved so residents can fully enjoy these outside areas, and the entire property will be made ADA compliant.
Other rehabilitation work includes elevator modernization, exterior façade repair, new flooring, and energy-efficiency measures designed to bring the building into compliance with city and state energy codes. The project will be certified and designed to Enterprise Green Community standards, including the replacement of the inefficient boiler and steam pipe system with an all-electric variable refrigerant flow system for energy-efficient heating and cooling with individually controlled thermostats in each unit. ConRock Construction is the general contractor, with construction slated to begin this month.
Financing for the project includes an $18.4 million capital subsidy from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD’s) Supportive Housing Loan Program, a $14 million construction loan from Chase, and $700,000 in Reso A funding from both Manhattan borough president Mark Levine and councilmember Gale Brewer.
The project will generate $13.6 million in equity through the sale of 9% low-income housing tax credits allocated by HPD. CREA serves as the tax credit syndicator for the transaction, with Citizens Bank as the investor. A permanent loan will be provided by the NYCERS Pension Fund with SONYMA Insurance. Acquisition financing was provided by Enterprise Community Partners and the New York City Acquisition Fund.
