Michelangelo Apartments

Organization Name: MDG Design + Construction, LLC (MDG)

Project Title: Michelangelo Apartments

Project Location: Melrose, Bronx

Project Goals:
MDG Design + Construction, LLC is refinancing and renovating Michelangelo Apartments, an aging state-financed Mitchell-Lama apartment complex originally created in 1974 to provide affordable housing to moderate- and middle-income families in the Bronx. Over time, Michelangelo Apartments fell into disrepair, making the implementation of site-wide upgrades a main project goal.

In addition to making critical internal and external infrastructure and amenity improvements to Michelangelo Apartments, a key goal of the project is preserving long-term affordability for residents. By leveraging HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program, which assures residents pay no more than 30% of their income in rent while providing owners with the stable funding they need to leverage private financing for renovations, MDG and its partners will be able to preserve Michelangelo Apartments as affordable for an additional 40 years given that the original 40-year subsidy contract expired in 2014.

Project Description:
Built in 1974, Michelangelo Apartments is a 494-unit affordable housing development consisting of four towers (one 27-story tower, one 12-story tower, and two 11-story towers) totaling 80 studios, 126 one-bedroom, 191 two-bedroom, 77 three-bedroom, and 20 four-bedroom apartments. The development also contains 50,000 square feet of retail space and underground parking. $160 million in financing is being used to preserve the 43-year-old Mitchell-Lama development, and all of the renovations will be completed with tenants in place. Improvements to the property will include full kitchen and bathroom renovations, elevator and lobby modernization, hallway beautification, and site-wide façade and landscaping improvements. The project also includes energy efficiency measures including the conversion to a hydronic boiler system from electric heaters and the installation of LED lighting throughout the building. This project was largest transaction in the Bronx in Q1 of 2017.

Community Impact:
Preserving the affordability of Michelangelo Apartments is anchoring the long-term diversity of the South Bronx community, ensuring that residents continue to have access to sustainable housing opportunities. This is critical after original subsidy contracts for the complex expired in 2014, threatening to price longtime residents out of the neighborhood.

The redevelopment of Michelangelo Apartments also includes the landscaping of 71,000 square feet of courtyard space to include a new playground, park, sitting areas, and walkways that will bring residents together in a community-oriented space. Residents will also share the new courtyard with a commercial tenant, Shelter Arms Early Childhood Education Center, a local nonprofit strengthening the education, well-being, and development of 20,000 vulnerable children, youth, and families across the New York metro area each year.

Organization Description:
MDG Design + Construction, LLC (MDG) is a leading real estate firm that develops, constructs, and manages quality affordable housing. MDG specializes in the moderate rehabilitation and new construction of residential apartment buildings in New York, New Jersey, and Florida, and is the industry leader in occupied rehabilitations. For nearly 30 years, MDG’s hands-on approach and people-first philosophy have resulted in effective collaborations with developers, tenant organizations, community groups, and staff to produce high quality homes that residents are proud to live in. To date, MDG has created or preserved 17,000 units of affordable housing and is responsible for over $1.6 billion in construction and development. Learn more at www.mdgny.com.