AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust Invests $8.26 Million Towards Hunter's Point South In New York, NY

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) announced today an investment of $8.26 million towards construction of Hunter's Point South Building A, a 37-story, multifamily development in Queens, NY that will offer 619 housing units, 13,500 square feet of retail space and 250 parking spaces. The HIT investment will create approximately 195 union construction jobs.

Apartments in the $233 million development will be permanently affordable to low, moderate and middle-income residents. Twenty percent of the units will be affordable to residents earning 50 percent of area median income (AMI), 20 percent affordable to those at 130 percent of AMI, 27 percent affordable to those at 165 percent of AMI and 33 percent affordable to those at 230 percent of AMI. Five percent of the units are reserved for municipal employees including teachers, police officers, firefighters and transit workers, allowing access to quality, affordable and convenient housing.

"It is critical to build projects like Hunter's Point South that will remain affordable in perpetuity to address the escalating demand for affordable housing in New York City," said Carol Nixon, Director of the HIT's New York City office. "This project is transforming an abandoned industrial site into a dynamic, mixed-use community, and reconnecting Queens residents to the waterfront.  The development will also provide residents with neighborhood amenities, parks and recreational space, and close proximity to public transportation."

When completed later this decade, the entire Hunter's Point South project will be a seven-building, mixed-use development located on approximately 30 acres of waterfront property in south Long Island City, Queens. It will be the largest new affordable housing development to be built in New York City since the 1970s and was highlighted as an example of strategic investments in Mayor Bill de Blasio's 10-year Housing Plan, which calls for the creation and preservation of 200,000 affordable units. It will include approximately 5,000 units of housing, affordable to low-, moderate- and middle income families in perpetuity, local retail, community facilities, an 11-acre acre waterfront park and a new, 1,100-seat public school.

This new development located near public transportation will house New Yorkers who cannot afford New York's high market rate rentals, and who are not being served by existing low-income housing programs. The City's housing stock is not keeping pace with its burgeoning population, which is expected to exceed 9 million people by 2030. As homeownership remains out of reach for nearly 80 percent of the households in New York City, the city-wide rental market remains strong.

The project is being developed and constructed through a joint venture between The Related Companies, Phipps Houses and Monadnock Construction.

Hunter's Point South Building A is part of the HIT's Workforce Housing Initiative that was launched in 2009 with the goal of investing $500 million in New York City to finance the creation and preservation of 5,000 to 10,000 multifamily units that are affordable to working families, defined as those earning between 60 percent and 200 percent of area median income. To date, the HIT has generated 9,051 workforce housing units through its investment of nearly $286 million in 13 workforce housing projects.

The jobs generated by Hunter's Point South Building A are helping the HIT advance toward its goal of creating 25,000 union construction jobs by the end of 2015 through its national Construction Job Initiative. To date, 20,500 union construction jobs have been created since 2009 under the initiative.

About the HIT

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) is a fixed-income investment company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It manages over $4.8 billion in assets for more than 360 investors, which include union and public employee pension plans. The HIT invests primarily in government and agency insured and guaranteed multifamily mortgage-backed securities.  The HIT is one of the earliest and most successful practitioners of socially responsible, economically targeted investing, with a 30-year track record that demonstrates the added value derived from union-friendly investments.  The investment objective of the HIT is to provide competitive returns for its investors and to promote the collateral objectives of constructing affordable housing and generating employment for union members in the construction trades and related industries. Since its inception, the HIT has invested $7 billion to finance more than 98,000 units of housing nationwide, generating more than 70,000 union jobs.  More information is available on the HIT's website, www.aflcio-hit.com.

Contact:
Michael K. Frisby
(202) 625-4328

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SOURCE AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust

Related Links

http://www.aflcio-hit.com