Recently the New York City Council approved plans to convert the building at 90 Sands St., a former residence building owned by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, into affordable housing. The building, located in DUMBO, was originally purchased from the Jehovah’s Witnesses by the Kushner Companies (Jared Kushner’s family), who sold it to RFR Realty.
The non profit organization, Breaking Ground is part of the development group that is acquiring the building from RFR. The non profit concentrates on providing housing for homeless and vulnerable residents of New York City.
This project will include over 200 affordable apartments for severely low to moderate income families, plus over 500 units for formerly homeless New Yorkers. Rent will start at $492/mth for a studio apartment.
The original plans for the building was to create a 600 room hotel, but that plan by the former developers failed for some reason. The city is helping Breaking Ground to finance the acquisition through direct funding from the City Council and a $155 million loan from HPD.
The development was scheduled to be complete by 2022, but in light of the pandemic and other issues, it is not clear when the development will be complete. The Jehovah;s Witnesses are known for keeping their properties in pristine condition so there’s probably not much renovation needed.
