NYC Housing Development Corporation Celebrates 880 All-Affordable Homes at Willets Point Commons, Breaks Ground on Senior Housing

NEW YORK — City officials and private partners gathered in Queens to celebrate the opening of 880 all-affordable homes at Willets Point Commons and to break ground on Building 3, a 220-unit affordable senior housing development. The milestone marks the largest fully affordable housing development completed in New York City in more than four decades, according to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

NYC Housing Development Corporation (QDG), a joint venture between Related Companies and Sterling Equities, developed the project in partnership with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC). Move-ins at Willets Point Commons began this month, alongside the opening of one acre of new public green space.

Real Estate Development Milestone at Willets Point

The 880 homes across Buildings 1 and 2 serve households earning between 30 and 120 percent of area median income (AMI). The development includes a series of set-asides: 20 percent of apartments are reserved for Queens Community Board 7 residents, 10 percent for veterans and/or New York City municipal employees, 5 percent for residents with mobility access needs, and 2 percent for those with visual or hearing access needs.

Willets Point Commons is managed by Related Management Company and features two landscaped inner courtyards, a tenant lounge, outdoor terraces and BBQ areas, a community garden, a fitness center, a children's playroom, co-working space, bike storage, electric vehicle charging, and ground-floor retail shops. The development offers direct transit access via the 7 train, the Long Island Rail Road, and the Q19, Q90, and Q66 bus routes.

"Today is a major milestone for Willets Point. I'm proud to welcome the first residents home to Willets Point Commons — the largest fully affordable housing development our city has seen in decades," said Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani. "At a time when too many New Yorkers are being priced out of the neighborhoods they built, this project is proof that government can still deliver bold, transformative change."

HPD Commissioner Dina Levy noted the site's history: "Willets Point, which famously inspired the 'Valley of Ashes' in The Great Gatsby, was for decades a low-lying, flood-prone area marked by pollution and heavy industrial use. Today, Willets Point is undergoing a transformation, becoming the largest 100% affordable housing development built in New York City in over 40 years."

Financing

Wells Fargo's Community Lending and Investment arranged a total of $360 million in financing for Phase 1 of the project, covering Buildings 1 and 2. That financing included a $236.5 million construction loan and a $123.5 million Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investment.

The full capitalization of Building 3 closed at approximately $211 million. Goldman Sachs Alternatives' Urban Investment Group provided a Letter of Credit and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investment for Building 3, while NYC affordable housing capital subsidies were provided by NYCHDC and NYCHPD.

"Wells Fargo is proud to support the opening of the first phase of Willets Point Commons," said Peter Cannava, head of Community Lending and Investment at Wells Fargo. "Working alongside The Related Companies, Sterling Equities and our public-sector financing partners, we helped bring the financing together to transform a long-overlooked area into a vibrant, mixed-use community."

"Willets Point is another proof point of what can be accomplished through public-private partnerships," said Asahi Pompey, Chair of the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs. "We are honored to partner with the City, Related, and Sterling to deliver Building 3 and provide more affordable homes, including for seniors, in Queens."

Building 3 and the Path to 1,100 Units

The groundbreaking of Building 3 marks the start of construction on 220 units of affordable housing designated for low-income seniors. Completion of Building 3 will fulfill the 1,100-unit commitment for Phase 1 of the Willets Point transformation.

"We are excited to welcome the first residents to Willets Point after over 15 years of hard work, dedication and public-private partnership to get us to this moment," said Bruce A. Beal, Jr., President of Related Companies, and Gregory Katz, Partner at Sterling Equities, on behalf of QDG. "What started as a vision to transform an underutilized part of Queens into a vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood is now coming to life as families and hardworking New Yorkers move in."

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. called the development "transformational," adding: "This historic moment for our borough is the first of many more to come in this community, and I look forward to the creation of 220 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors to that list."

Phase 2 and the Broader Willets Point Master Plan

Phase 2 of the Willets Point redevelopment will deliver the remaining 1,400 of the 2,500 planned affordable homes, along with a new public school, more than 150,000 square feet of public open space, space for local businesses, a new hotel, and Etihad Park — the future home of New York City Football Club (NYCFC) and the city's first professional soccer-specific stadium. The stadium is expected to be completed and operational by the 2027 Major League Soccer season.

New York City Economic Development Corporation Interim President and CEO Jeanny Pak said the project demonstrates how community and public-private collaboration can deliver on affordable housing goals. "Nowhere is there a better example of how the community and the public and private sector can come together to deliver a vision for a more affordable city than right here in Queens," Pak said.

Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg added: "This day has been a long time coming, and thanks to the dedicated work of teams at QDG, HPD, HDC, and EDC, soon thousands of New Yorkers will benefit from affordable housing, open space, a new school, and more — all built by workers with good-paying, quality jobs."

New York City Councilmember Shanel Thomas-Henry said the development represents an opportunity to deepen community in District 21. "My hope is that Willets Point becomes a model for how development with community at the center can create neighborhoods that are both affordable and built to serve the people who call this city home," she said.

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