NEW YORK — Brookfield Property Partners (NYSE: BPY; TSX: BPY.UN) has begun construction on a 62-story residential tower at Manhattan West that will contain 844 units with 20 percent of the studio, one- and two-bedroom units priced at affordable rates.
Brookfield has closed on $479 million in Housing Finance Agency (HFA) credit enhanced bonds through the Bank of China with a seven-year term to fund the construction. Credit enhancement provides security for the holders of HFA bonds and insures an investment-grade rating for the bonds.
Designed by SLCE, the Manhattan West residential tower is an $800 million structure slated to welcome its first residents in the first quarter of 2017, with substantial completion in 2018. Located at 435 W. 31st St. between Ninth and Dyer avenues, it will feature an array of amenities including a regulation-sized basketball court, a climbing wall, kitchens and dining rooms available for private entertaining, and a roof deck with grills. Hunter Roberts is the construction manager of the residential project.
When completed, the $4.5 billion Manhattan West development will include two new Class A office towers, retail, a five-star hotel, rooftop gardens, restaurants and cafes in addition to the residential building. A two-acre public park will transect the site.
Brookfield’s Manhattan West development is an addition to the Midtown Manhattan skyline with 7 million square feet of office, residential and retail in the center of a growth area of Manhattan. Brookfield’s development sits near Manhattan’s new West Side in the heart of the Hudson Yards district one block west of Penn Station.
HFA’s mission is to create and preserve high-quality affordable multifamily rental housing serving communities across the state of New York. The agency offers financing to for-profit and non-profit developers to building affordable housing and preserve existing affordable housing.
— Haisten Willis