The Atrium at Sumner

Organization Name: Sumner Senior Partners LLC

Project Title: The Atrium at Sumner

Project Location: Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

Project Description:
Following the Housing is Health, Health is Housing model, the Atrium at Sumner’s unique building design is centered on an interior garden where residents experience nature year-round. Designed by world-renowned architectural firm Studio Libeskind, the building is sited on formerly open space on the NYCHA Sumner Houses campus. As visible in the skyline view image, the landscape design and building are thoughtfully incorporated into the campus plan. Developed for low-income older adults age 62 and above, the building has a total of 190 apartments with 30% set aside for formerly unhoused seniors. Units are a mix of one bedrooms and studio units with a two-bedroom apartment for the live-in superintendent. Social Services are provided on-site, available to all residents through Selfhelp’s Housing with Services model (SHASAM), including comprehensive case management services and resident programming. Resident amenities include a library with computer area, gym, a multipurpose community room equipped for multi-media events, low-cost wi-fi and lobby space with a monumental stair to garden level. Resident bathrooms have roll-in showers and an emergency pull cord system, designed to help residents age in place

Community Impact:
All aspects of the project support an age-friendly neighborhood, vital to maintaining a vibrant NYC for all ages. The Atrium at Sumner brings much-needed affordable housing to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. In addition to on-site social services available to residents of the 190 units, the project includes a PACE adult day health center program space which will benefit all older residents of the neighborhood. The PACE program provides Medicare-eligible community residents with medical and social services enabling them to remain in the neighborhood for health care needs. Designed to Passive House standards, the innovative building design is a sustainable solution and an innovative housing design.

The NYCHA NextGen Seniors First program develops new state-of-the-art housing for low-income residents of New York City on NYCHA campuses, allowing underutilized space to be transformed into desperately needed affordable housing. 25% of the units are set aside for existing NYCHA residents. At Atrium, the unit mix and AMI levels conform to HPD’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartments program. Project Based Section 8 vouchers were awarded for all apartments and underwritten at 110% of HUD Fair Market Rents.

Organization Description:
Sumner Senior Partners LLC is an equitable partnership between not-for-profit developers Selfhelp Realty Group, Inc. and RiseBoro Community Partnership, Inc. and Urban Builders Collaborative, LLC. The partnership has a successful track record of partnering with Federal, State and City agencies and working with elected officials, Resident Associations and community organizations. The project was completed in January 2024 and converted to permanent financing in 2025.