A lottery has been launched to purchase 43 affordable apartments for seniors in a project under construction at 811 Lexington Avenue in Bed Stuy, the site of the former Mars Fudge and Fruit Company factory.
The lottery for the four-story 811 Lexington Senior Residences is for 43 studio apartments for one- or two-person households earning less than 50 percent of the area median income, or $49,450 for one person and $56,500 for two people. Applicants must be 62 years of age or older.
Five percent of the apartments in the lottery are allocated to families with mobility disabilities, and 2 percent are allocated to families with visual or hearing disabilities.
Although the apartments are listed as rent-free on the NYC Housing Connect website, the site says families who apply for the lottery must qualify for Section 8 and must pay 30 percent of their household income toward rent. The rent will include heating, hot water and cooking gas. The New York Housing Conference’s website says at least 30 percent of the units will be set aside for seniors at risk of homelessness.
The gray brick project will have a total of 64 rental subsidized units, including a superintendent’s unit. There will be a 24-hour super building, on-site laundry, an elevator, a communal courtyard, a bike room, a community room, a landscaped roof garden and a social services office. The building will be smoke-free. No mention if pets are allowed.
The building is being developed in partnership between the nonprofit housing developer IMPACCT Brooklyn and the Northeast Conference of Seventh Day Adventists, which owns the land on which the building is being developed. Jack Esterson Who thought? Architecture and Design is the architect behind the project, Department of Buildings permits show. IMPACCT Brooklyn CEO Pernell Greer is listed as the building owner on permits.
The new project is being constructed through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s affordable rental apartment programs and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs.
The site previously included a parking lot and a two-story brick garage designed by architect Charles Infanger and built around 1914, according to the property registry. By 1915, it had opened as the Palace Garage and would house the Mars Fudge and Fruit Company factory in the latter part of the 20th century.
The building in 2021. Photography by Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark
A 1991 New York Times story noted that the Mars Fudge and Fruit Company was an important supplier to the city’s Greek bakers, furnishing apple, cherry, strawberry and other standouts for specialty pies and baked goods. “The ubiquitous lemon meringue pie, for example, is often filled with Lemon Supreme from Mars.”
City records show the deed was transferred from the Mars Fudge and Fruit Company to the Northeast Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in 1997. Like many older buildings in East Bed-Stuy near Broadway that have been replaced by mid-rise apartments in the past decade, the factory was demolished to make way In front of new development.
The apartment lottery will close on November 9. To apply, visit the listing on Housing Connect.
(Offers via NYC Housing Connect)
Related stories
Email tips@brownstoner.com for further comments, questions or tips. Follow brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.
