Stanley Commons Development & Community Center

Organization Name: Kretchmer Companies, ELH Mgmt. LLC, Galaxy General Contracting, Dattner Architects

Project Location: East New York, Brooklyn, New York

Project Description:
Stanley Commons is a mixed-use, sustainable development that promotes affordable, healthy community living. Located on a former NYCHA parking lot in East New York, Brooklyn, Stanley Commons provides 240 affordable apartments in six low- and mid-rise buildings. The development’s green spaces and intimate private streets create a safe and welcoming atmosphere for residents, while enhancing the community. The contemporary design provides a variety of materials and colors; large windows provide living spaces with abundant natural light. A glazed stair at the street façade of each building animates the streetscape, provides a visual connection between the development and neighborhood and promotes safety. The new Prince Joshua Avitto Community Center is part of the campus. The 19,000 SF facility provides recreational and educational opportunities for youth and adults, offering a gymnasium, game room, and multipurpose facilities. Managed by a partnership between Good Shepherd Services and Man Up!, the center offers residents and the community at-large after-school programs, social services, and college access programming. Multi-colored metal panel facades make the building a beacon in the neighborhood.

Community Impact:
• Stanley Commons offers East New York well-designed and constructed affordable housing along with community services. The team worked with resident leaders and NYCHA to meet the community’s residential, economic and social needs.
• Located on a former parking lot, Stanley Commons exemplifies the successful redevelopment of underutilized NYCHA property, providing urgently needed affordable homes and community services, knitting together a revitalizing neighborhood.
• The Stanley Commons buildings provide a street wall interspersed with landscaped spaces, enhancing quality of life and maintaining an appropriate scale. The buildings’ color accents emphasize a lively, fresh presence in the neighborhood.
• The development team introduced the non-profit Good Shepherd Services (GSS) and ManUp! to sponsor and operate the new Prince Joshua Avitto Community Center, providing a wide range of educational and recreational services to the community.

Organization Description:
Stanley Commons LLC is a partnership of the Kretchmer Companies, ELH Mgmt. LLC, and Galaxy General Contracting. The development team, with Dattner Architects, was selected by NYCHA and HPD through an RFP process to re-develop an underutilized parking lot in East New York. Galaxy was also the general contractor. The team addressed a variety of challenges, including the need to remediate the site, develop a site plan around existing underground NYCHA steam lines, to plan a multi-building development and to incorporate a community center in the plan.

Team Members:

Kretchmer Companies, ELH Mgmt. LLC., Galaxy General Contracting, Dattner Architects, Abel Bainnson Butz (landscape), Rodney D. Gibble Engineers (structural), Joselow Engineering (MEP).