Park 79

Organization Name: Fairstead

Project Title: Park 79

Project Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan

Project Description:
Park 79 is a former single-room-occupancy building and illegal hotel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. After being shuttered by the City, Fairstead acquired the building and undertook extensive renovations. Fairstead converted the building into 77 units of permanent, deeply affordable housing for seniors in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods. This summer, Fairstead and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development opened the Housing Lottery for Park 79, and seniors will start moving in by the end of the year. Through HPD’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartments (SARA) program, the 100% affordable housing development provides homes to seniors earning at or below 50% area median income, including 24 homes set aside for formerly homeless individuals. All of the homes will be supported by a project-based Section 8 contract, under which residents will pay only 30% of their income in rent. In addition to providing deeply-affordable housing for seniors, Park 79 will also feature indoor and outdoor amenity spaces for residents and space for Fairstead’s nonprofit partner, Project FIND, which will provide on-site services with two social workers.

Community Impact:
Park 79 will bring much-needed senior housing to the Upper West Side. It is a life-changing opportunity for local seniors to age in place with dignity. Apartments are designed with the needs of senior residents in mind, including walk-in showers, grab bars, and other accessibility features.

Local nonprofit partner Project FIND will have dedicated space on-site to provide crucial social services for seniors and develop tailored programming based on resident needs. Residents will also have access to Project FIND’s nearby Hamilton Senior Center on West 73rd Street, which has robust programming focused on health and wellness, art, music, and computer literacy.

Fairstead also recognizes the need to be a good neighbor for the neighborhood, the city, and the planet, and so is ensuring that this project is sustainable for years to come. With that in mind, Park 79 was designed to meet sustainability benchmarks by being a nearly all-electric powered building.

Organization Description:
Fairstead is a purpose-driven, vertically integrated real estate developer specializing in creating sustainable, high-quality housing. With teams operating around the country, Fairstead owns more than 17,000 low-income, senior, mixed-income, workforce, and market-rate housing units in 18 states. Fairstead's national footprint includes more than $6 billion in assets and identified pipeline.

Team Members:

Fairstead: Jeffrey Goldberg, CEO, & Brett Meringoff, Managing Partner, Development
Project FIND: David Gillcrist, Executive Director
NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development