NYLOP Participants Issue RFPs to Affordable Housing Developers
3.02.2018
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LISC StoriesNYLOP
LISC NYC Community Development Officer Grace Chung speaking with church leaders at St. John's Global Ministries--one of the participants in LISC NYC's New York Land Opportunity Program.
March 2, 2018
The deadline for the RFPs has been extended to Friday, April 27, 2018. The RFPs have also been revised to include the estimated appraised value of the properties.
LISC NYC has reached an exciting milestone. Four churches in our New York Land Opportunity Program (NYLOP) have issued Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to identify experienced developers to help them develop new affordable housing on their land. A first-of-its kind program in New York City, NYLOP helps mission-driven organizations with limited real estate experience to form partnerships with experienced developers.
In August 2017, LISC NYC announced the selection of a pilot cohort for this program—five churches across NYC—in a Wall Street Journal story. The churches seek to build new affordable housing on their land to address the city’s housing crisis, while incorporating new community space to continue providing social services such as food pantries, clothing drives and youth programs vital to their mission.
Each NYLOP participant has received pro-bono architectural, legal and financial technical assistance. The program has culminated with each group drafting an RFP to identify an experienced developer partner to help realize the church’s vision. We are pleased to share the RFPs for the first four churches who are actively seeking developer partners. They are:
- St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in the Bronx
- Shiloh Church of Christin Harlem, Manhattan
- Wakefield Grace United Methodist Church in Wakefield, Bronx
- St. John’s Global Ministriesnear downtown Jamaica, Queens
Each response to the RFP must include the following NYLOP Project Attachment. Shiloh Church has its own Project Attachment, which can be viewed here (Shiloh Project Attachment).
“We thank [LISC] for assisting us and the timeliness of the information we received in order to prepare for this major milestone for our church. We would not have been able to do this on our own!” said Father Pierre-Andrew Duvert of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
NYLOP was developed by LISC NYC in partnership with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.
It is made possible by generous support from Booth Ferris Foundation, along with BankUnited, Deutsche Bank, M&T Bank, and Santander Bank.
Special thanks to our technical assistance partners: Goldstein Hall and Edelman Sultan Knox Wood / Architects.
“NYLOP is a perfect example of LISC NYC’s mission in action of supporting local champions to address vital community needs,” said Sam Marks, Executive Director of LISC NYC. “We at LISC NYC are proud to support these five organizations and deeply grateful for our partners who have made it possible for these groups to reach this critical milestone that brings them closer to addressing the city’s affordable housing crisis.”
Read more about NYLOP in an Affordable Housing Finance Magazine story earlier this month.