NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Acting Commissioner Ahmed Tigani, Gilbane Development, Blue Sea Development, and Artspace Projects, Inc. today broke ground on the Brownsville Arts Center & Apartments (BACA) project. Located on a city-owned site at 366 Rockaway Avenue in Brooklyn, BACA will create 283 new affordable rental apartments available to households earning between 30 and 70 percent of the area median income, including a mix of studio to three-bedroom apartments, as well as dedicated units for formerly homeless individuals. Additionally, BACA will deliver a 28,000 square-foot cultural arts center with a 3,440 square-foot multi-purpose performance, rehearsal, and studio space for community arts groups. Along with nearly 263,000 square feet of residential space, the new cultural arts center and affordable housing development will serve as a vibrant and inclusive community hub. BACA is expected to cost $254 million, with the Adams administration contributing nearly $100 million in city subsidies. BACA marks a major step forward in bringing transformative, affordable housing and dynamic community-centered space to the heart of Brownsville and builds on the Adams administration’s record as the most pro-housing administration in city history; the Adams administration has created, preserved, or planned over 426,000 homes through its efforts to date alone.
“Making New York City the best place to raise a family means creating affordable homes and delivering high-quality community spaces; that is what this project is all about,” said Mayor Adams. “We’ll bring hundreds of new affordable homes to Brownsville and give New Yorkers a vibrant place to dance and perform. From Brownsville to University Heights, we’re building much-needed homes across the entire city and reinforcing our reputation, once again, as the most pro-housing administration in city history.”
“Brownsville Arts Center & Apartments furthers the Adams administration’s commitment to delivering on affordable housing and the arts. By investing in Brownsville’s future, putting 283 families into affordable housing, and delivering a new arts and cultural center for the neighborhood, we are a ‘City of Yes,’” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Adolfo Carrion, Jr. “I congratulate Gilbane Development, Blue Sea Development, and Artspace for reaching a monumental milestone.”
“The entire BACA project — including the housing, cultural space, and intentional commitment to this neighborhood — is a perfect embodiment of the Brownsville Plan, a bold, community-driven vision that committed to creating more than 2,500 new affordable homes alongside substantial city fundings for investments in culture, health, youth, and public spaces,” said HPD Acting Commissioner Tigani. “In that same spirit, BACA will deliver 283 deeply affordable apartments, including homes for formerly homeless households, and a 28,000-square-foot cultural arts center with performance, rehearsal, and studio space. This project is more than housing — it’s a vibrant cultural hub that will spark creativity, foster opportunity, and instill pride, showing what’s possible when we pair deeply affordable housing with spaces that honor community and expression. I am profoundly grateful to my colleagues, the development team and their partners, and our essential local leaders whose vision made this transformative project a reality.”
Following the completion of a competitive request for proposals process led by HPD, BACA will pair deeply affordable housing with opportunities for cultural expression and community connection. Gilbane Development, Blue Sea Development, and Artspace Projects, Inc. will serve as joint venture development partners; Gilbane Building will serve as general contractor; and Aufgang Architects will serve as architect. Gilbane Development is the real estate development, financing, and ownership arm of Gilbane, Inc. With over $11.8 billion in development and more than 25,000 units of housing either completed or underway, Gilbane Development’s projects incorporate every aspect of real estate, including multifamily housing (market rate apartments, student housing, and affordable housing); mixed-used developments; health care facilities; K-12 schools; government facilities; and many types of facilities delivered through public-private partnerships. Additionally, Blue Sea Development Company is a real estate development company known for high-performance multifamily and mixed-use buildings, including the first affordable Energy Star, LEED-Platinum, and Partnership for a Healthier America Active Design-Verified developments in New York state. With its deep commitment to community engagement, every project reflects a belief in providing quality, affordable, sustainable homes to the people who need them most.
Designed as an all-electric building, BACA targets high environmental and building standards, including the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS) 2021 CORE standard, LEED Platinum, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR® Multifamily New Construction Program, EPA’s Indoor airPlus, and Fitwel certifications. BACA has been recognized by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as part of its Buildings of Excellence and Building Cleaner Communities Competitions. With construction starting in July 2025 and completion expected in December 2027, BACA represents a transformative investment in the social and cultural fabric of the Brownsville neighborhood.
This project will be made possible through funding from HPD and HDC, who collectively provided $88.1 million in housing subsidies. Funding for the project also includes $8.2 million of city capital subsidy provided by DCLA for the arts center, as well as grants from NYSERDA and the Empire State Development Corporation. Additional funding sources also include $2 million in RESO A funding provided by former New York City Councilmember Alicka Ampry-Samuel, $1 million in Reso A funding provided by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Brownfield Tax credit equity and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits syndicated by Raymond James, and construction financing provided by TD Bank.
BACA is part of the city’s ongoing Brownsville Plan, a community-led process to identify neighborhood goals, form strategies to address local needs, and find resources to help fill the gaps. As a result, it will bring more than 2,500 new affordable homes to the neighborhood, an investment of over $1 billion. New development on city-owned land will support the goals of improving health, safety, community economic development, and the arts in the form of a new cultural center in Brownsville, a new center for innovation and entrepreneurship, and new neighborhood retail and space for community organizations — all paired with affordable housing.
“The Brownsville Arts Center & Apartments will be so much more than a home — it will be a thriving hub for people to gather for performances, for students to learn about the arts, and for local cultural organizations to grow,” said Yarojin Robinson, senior vice president, Affordable & Mixed-Income Housing, Gilbane Development. “We are grateful to our partners, Blue Sea Development and Artspace, and for the critical financial support from the city and state. Together, we’re working to make Brownsville more affordable, sustainable and connected.”
“At the heart of the Brownsville Arts Center & Apartments is a belief in connection: connection to home, to culture, and connection to one another,” said Jacob Bluestone, Blue Sea Development Company. “It means a great deal to all of us at Blue Sea Development and Gilbane Development to be part of a project that treats cultural infrastructure and affordable housing not as separate needs, but as shared pillars of community life.”
“The Brownsville Arts Center & Apartments shows what’s possible when affordable housing and the arts are woven together to serve a community,” said Will Law, president and CEO, Artspace. “With strong local partnerships and a shared commitment to creativity, BACA will be a place where artists and neighbors can create, connect, and grow — ensuring Brownsville’s cultural life continues to flourish for generations to come.”
Since entering office, Mayor Adams has made historic investments to create more affordable housing and ensure more New Yorkers have a place to call home. Earlier this year, Mayor Adams announced that his administration has created, preserved, or planned approximately 426,800 homes for New Yorkers through its work to date. Mayor Adams also announced that, in Fiscal Year 2025, the Adams administration created the most affordable rental units in city history and celebrated back-to-back-to-back record-breaking years for producing permanently-affordable homes for formerly-homeless New Yorkers, placing homeless New Yorkers into housing, and connecting New Yorkers to housing through the city’s housing lottery.
In addition to creating and preserving record amounts of affordable and market-rate housing for New Yorkers, the Adams administration has also passed ambitious plans that will create tens of thousands of new homes as well. Last December, Mayor Adams celebrated the passage of “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity,” the most pro-housing proposal in city history that will build 80,000 new homes over 15 years and invest $5 billion towards critical infrastructure updates and housing.
The Adams administration is also advancing several robust neighborhood plans that, if adopted, would deliver nearly 50,000 homes over the next 15 years to New York neighborhoods. In addition to the Bronx-Metro North Station Area Plan, the Midtown South plan, and the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan — all of which have already been passed by the New York City Council — the Adams administration is also advancing plans in Jamaica and Long Island City in Queens.
Building on the success of City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, Mayor Adams unveiled his “City of Yes for Families” strategy in his State of the City address earlier this year to build more homes and create more family-friendly neighborhoods across New York City. Under City of Yes for Families, the Adams administration is advancing more housing on city-owned sites, creating new tools to support homeownership, and building more housing alongside schools, playgrounds, grocery stores, accessible transit stations, and libraries.
In addition to creating more housing opportunities, the Adams administration is actively working to strengthen tenant protections and support homeowners. The “Partners in Preservation” program was expanded citywide in 2024 through a $24 million investment in local organizations to support tenant organizing and combat harassment in rent-regulated housing. The Homeowner Help Desk, a trusted one-stop shop for low-income homeowners to receive financial and legal counseling from local organizations, was also expanded citywide in 2024 with a $13 million funding commitment.
Finally, Mayor Adams and members of his administration successfully advocated for new tools in the 2024 New York state budget that are already helping spur the creation of urgently needed housing. These tools include a new tax incentive for multifamily rental construction, a tax incentive program to encourage office conversions to create more affordable units, lifting the arbitrary “floor-to-area ratio” cap that held back affordable housing production in certain high-demand areas of the city, and the ability to create a pilot program to legalize and make safe basement apartments.
