Testimony last updated December 8, 2008
Statement on the Proposed Financing of Albee Square Residential Development
Presented to the New York City Housing Development Corporation
Brad Lander & Paula Crespo
Pratt Center for Community Development
December 8, 2008
Thank you for the opportunity to present this statement regarding the proposed tax-exempt financing of the Albee Square residential development, proposed by Albee Residential Development LLC. We are long-time supporters of the New York City Housing Development Corporation. We appreciate your long-time practicing of prioritizing all-affordable, or mostly affordable, housing developments over 80/20 projects with scarce tax-exempt bonds. We have a number of concerns about the proposed financing, especially the extremely high, $1.9 million worth of tax-exempt bonds per low-income unit. This number is many times what we have seen you approve for past projects. We urge you to proceed with great caution, and not to approve this deal in its current form. In particular, we ask HDC: