Sutphin Senior Housing & Clinic

Organization Name: Breaking Ground

Project Title: Sutphin Senior Housing & Clinic

Project Location: Jamaica, Queens

Project Description:
Sutphin Senior Housing & Clinic is a Passive House certified 173-unit supportive and affordable residence co-located with a 15,000 sq ft Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Breaking Ground developed and owns the residential component, and the FQHC is owned and operated by the Community Healthcare Network (CHN). The architectural plan features four and five story street walls with setbacks rising to 15 stories. The five story portion features cerulean blue glazed brick masonry cladding, and the remainder is charcoal gray brick, with projected brick patterns on the setbacks. The residential portion of the building is home to formerly homeless and very low-income older adults, with property management and onsite social services provided by Breaking Ground. Amenities include a landscaped terrace, multipurpose room, library, fitness room, bicycle storage, and onsite laundry. Tenant-focused activities are organized through Breaking Ground’s signature Tenant360 program. CHN’s clinic is located on the ground floor and cellar levels, providing a full range of medical and behavioral health services to the community. It may be the only FQHC in the US located within a Passive House certified building.

Community Impact:
Sutphin Senior Housing & Clinic adds a 100% affordable development to the Special Downtown Jamaica District which has seen significant residential development since 2007, but very little 100% affordable and scarce supportive or senior-focused units. In co-locating supportive and affordable housing with a medical clinic, the project serves both the wider Jamaica community and tenants of the residential portion of the building – a model of development that can and should be replicated across New York. Tenants with histories of homelessness or very low incomes tend to have significant medical and behavioral health needs and have often been excluded from mainstream healthcare settings. Initial estimates show that more than 50% of tenants have engaged with at least one service at the clinic, and many have remarked on the quality of care and array of services available to them just steps away from where they live. The development replaced a previous CHN FQHC – an aging, single-story building – with a state-of-the-art clinic that more than doubles the available square footage for serving patients, allowing CHN to serve more people and expand services, including a dental clinic on the cellar level.

Organization Description:
Breaking Ground is New York’s largest supportive housing developer and operator. With 26 transitional and permanent residences under management in New York City, Breaking Ground provides safe, stable, beautiful housing for those who need it most. CHN provides more than 60,000 New Yorkers with primary and behavioral healthcare, dental, nutrition, wellness, and needed support services. Their network is made up of 14 federally qualified health centers throughout NYC.

Team Members:

Owner/Developer: Breaking Ground
FQHC Owner: Community Healthcare Network
Architect: Bernheimer Architecture
MEP: Dagher Engineering
STR: TYLin
Landscape: TerrainNYC
Energy Consultant: Bright Power