Acacia Network’s vision of building healthy neighborhoods and integrating health care services with affordable housing developments for all residents is realized in Acacia Gardens. The development will be a new 12-story brick building on the corner of East 120th Street and First Avenue in East Harlem, NY. The new development will create 179 new affordable homes for extremely low- and low-income residents, some of whom are formerly homeless. The once New York City-owned site, primarily used for parking, will now host affordable housing apartments within 183,000 SF of residential space. The building will also include space for commercial and retail uses, a roof deck with lounging area and activity space for the residents, as well as 29 surface level parking spaces.

The first project under New York City’s new “Extremely Low and Low-Income Affordability” (ELLA) program, Acacia Gardens will include a community space, ground floor retail space and 30 parking spaces. A generous roof deck will include space to relax and activity space. The project is being designed to meet the requirements for certification by NYSERDA MPP, Enterprise Green Communities and LEED for Homes, as well as the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Active Design Guidelines. The ELLA Program funds the new construction of low-income multi-family rental projects affordable to households earning up to $48,960 for a household of three.

Acacia Gardens is also one of the first projects to receive financing from the City’s Our Space Initiative. HPD’s Our Space Initiative funds the new construction of rental units affordable to formerly homeless households whose incomes are at or below 30% of the AMI.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s constructed the Housing New York: A Five-Borough, 10-Year Housing Plan in order to create 200,000 units of new affordable housing and address the City’s affordability crisis across all income brackets up to the middle class. Acacia Gardens will be counted in that plan.