Community Foundation Invests in 2 Brooklyn Real Estate Projects

March 22, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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By Linda Collins

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — The Carver Community Development Corporation (CCDC) reports it has put into action a promise made by Carver Federal Savings Bank “to improve the lives of its primary customers” — the people in the neighborhoods where its branches are located.

That promise was to reinvest its resources into real estate development partnerships that “will bring to life new state-of-the-art, multi-use properties that have far-reaching impact in strengthening these communities from the inside out,” said CCDC’s Blondel Pinnock, president and CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) officer.

Two of the CCDC properties are in Brooklyn, including:

• Loew’s Pitkin Theater at 1501 Pitkin Ave. in Brownsville, which has been revitalized and converted into a mixed-use school site and retail center scheduled for completion in April.

Said to be the first major expansion of retail development on Pitkin Avenue in over 40 years, it will add jobs, including education-related jobs. It will be the new home of the Brownsville Ascend Charter School that now serves 170 students in grades K-1, but will expand to serve 1,200 students in grades K-12.

• The Bradford, at 1560 Fulton St./43 Albany Ave. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is scheduled for completion in summer 2012.

This brand new six-story, 137,537-square-foot mixed-use residential building that is being constructed on formerly city-owned property will bring the first affordable housing to the area in 15 years.

“These projects, on long underdeveloped and/or dilapidated sites, bring not only a new look, but new jobs, affordable housing and community-serving commercial tenants to these lower-income, working-class neighborhoods,” said Pinnock.

Pinnock added, “By upgrading their very infrastructure, you not only make these struggling neighborhoods look better, you make people feel better about living there, while bringing jobs, affordable housing and valuable services to those who need it most.”

The CCDC’s partners on the theater project were Goldman Sachs, Seedco Financial, Empowerment Reinvestment Fund, Nonprofit Finance Fund and The Rose Urban Green Fund. Carver’s contribution was $13.3 million

On the Bradford, the CCDC partnered with the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corp. and Goldman Sachs Urban Investing Group. Carver’s contribution was $10.5 million.

Carver’s Brooklyn branches are at 1009 Nostrand Ave. in Crown Heights, 833 Flatbush Ave. in Flatbush, 1392 Fulton St. in Bed-Stuy and at 4 Hanson Place in the Atlantic Terminal near Downtown Brooklyn. The Bradford, a mixed-use residential building with 96 affordable apartments plus retail space. It is slated for completion in summer 2012. Images courtesy of Carver Community Development Corp.