The Atrium at Sumner features 189 units for seniors. Image Credit: HPD, NYCHA.
On May 23, 2024, the New York City Housing Authority, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Housing Development Corporation celebrated the completion of the Atrium at Sumner project, a new eleven-story residence for seniors. The new building was constructed on underutilized land at the NYCHA Sumner Houses campus between Park and Myrtle Avenues in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.
The Atrium at Sumner features 190 units. Of these 190 units, 57 apartments have been reserved for seniors who formerly experienced homelessness, and 132 apartments are available to senior households at 50 percent area median income or less. The remaining unit will be for a live-in super. NYCHA residents will be given preference for 33 apartments.
The building features a 24-hour attended lobby, on-site building manager, laundry rooms, a multi-purpose community room, bicycle storage, a library and computer room, and exercise room. Free broadband is available in common areas and apartments, and each apartment has emergency pull cords and built-in air conditioners. There are also handrails in common areas. The building is organized around a central atrium with corridors that overlook a year-round indoor garden on the building’s second floor. The building also features a community garden for residents. The Sumner Houses campus also received new landscaping, lighting, seating, walking paths and bioswales.
On-site social services will be provided through Selfhelp’s Active Services for Aging Model with voluntary social work support for individual residents and a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE Center) on the ground floor open to residents.
The project cost $132 million and was funded through permanent financing including $41 million in HDC bonds, a $12 million subsidy from the Extremely Low & Low-Income Affordability and Senior Affordable Rental Apartments programs, $63 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity, $3.5 million in Reso A funds from Mayor Eric Adams as Brooklyn Borough President, and former City Council Members Corey Johnson and Robert Cornegy, and the City Council Black and Asian Caucus.
Mayor Adams stated, “From big wins in Albany allowing us to build more housing, to our ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ proposal, to completing smart projects like the $132 million Atrium at Sumner, we are attacking our city’s decades-old housing crisis from every angle. This project is a success story for NYCHA, HPD, HDC, and, most of all, seniors in Brooklyn, who are receiving new affordable homes built specifically for their needs. I’m so excited that hundreds of older New Yorkers will now have the opportunity to live in this safe, modern, affordable space with the amenities and programs they deserve.”
NYCHA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt stated, “It is a truly remarkable feeling to have come together to create nearly 200 new affordable housing units on NYCHA property for New Yorkers in need. This new, beautiful building will be home to a thriving senior community and provide a new quality of life to formerly unhoused members of the community. We are deeply appreciative of our partners in this endeavor to provide the Atrium at Sumner’s residents with the comprehensive care and exceptional level of comfort that they deserve in their golden years.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the Editor of CityLand and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)