Merchants Capital Arranges $185M in Financing for Brooklyn Affordable Housing Community

NEW YORK CITY — Merchants Capital has arranged $185 million in financing for the acquisition and rehabilitation of Nostrand Houses, a 1,148-unit affordable housing community in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. Nostrand Houses comprises 16 buildings that were constructed between 1949 and 1951 across two contiguous sites. The rehabilitation, which began in October, will be executed in six phases and is expected to last about 60 months. Capital improvements will cover individual apartments and building-wide systems, inclusive of new kitchens and bathrooms, electrified heating and cooling systems, new elevators, improved accessibility, lead and mold remediation and upgraded security systems. Merchants Bank provided the loan for Nostrand House, with $50 million of the total loan provided by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT), which acted as co-lender on the deal. Joshua Canan and Mathew Wambua led the transaction for Merchants Capital.