New York’s Staten Island — For thousands of Staten Islanders residing in two of the borough’s New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complexes, it was an exciting year as the city began construction on large, long-overdue redevelopment projects that will fundamentally alter the daily lives of the residents.
The decades-old apartments that inhabitants call home at the NYCHA Todt Hill Houses and West Brighton I and II complexes are currently undergoing a comprehensive renovation.
According to NYCHA officials, inhabitants of the two complexes will soon be living in brand-new, completely renovated apartments with contemporary, energy-efficient appliances, marking the end of their days of mold-ridden walls, cracked tiles, and crumbling lead-based paint.
The two Staten Island NYCHA renovation projects that started construction in 2024 are shown here.
HOUSES IN TODT HILL
Two NYCHA developments, including the Todt Hill Houses complex, have been chosen to receive a complete restoration as part of NYCHA’s Comprehensive Modernization program. The renovation will include plumbing and electrical upgrades, new kitchens and bathrooms, and elevators.
Complete flooring and window replacements, faade repairs, pest and waste management upgrades, in-unit radiator repairs, heating optimization, and the removal of any mold and lead-based paint are also included in the restoration.
According to NYCHA Vice President of Comprehensive Modernization Michele Basic-Moore, the Todt Hill Houses, which was constructed in the 1950s, desperately needs an upgrade that is centered on enhancing the lives of the residents, as well as the living conditions within the apartments, the infrastructure, and the development.
The project, which started in late 2024 and should be finished in three or four years, will involve renovating all 502 apartments spread over the complex’s seven buildings.
Along with a number of residents, many of whom were instrumental in the design of the new apartments through interactive workshops, NYCHA officials invited the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com to tour a mock apartment unit in October to show what the new apartments will look like when they are finished.
After the city finishes renovating all of the apartments at the complex, homeowners can see what their new homes will look like in this fake unit at the New York City Housing Authority’s Todt Hill Houses. (Erik Bascome/Staten Island Advance)Erik Bascome/Staten Island Advance
Dozens of lifelong Todt Hill residents attended the workshops, which allowed them to share their thoughts and opinions on a range of topics related to their future residences, such as sink design, cabinet type, paint colors, bathroom tiling, and more.
Through NYCHA’s Comprehensive Modernization program, which makes use of available capital funding to revitalize NYCHA properties, the design and construction will be carried out by Community Modernization Group, a team of Texas-based designers and contractors with a local New York arm called Sweet Construction.
According to NYCHA, comprehensive modernization involves completing significant renovations as part of a single, integrated project, which enables developments to be renovated more rapidly, better, and more affordably.
We are implementing a new strategy and approach for the housing authority called design-build, in which we contract a single firm to handle the design, building, and temporary resident relocation. According to Basic-Moore, we’ve held numerous discussions with residents to ensure they comprehend the entire procedure and are completely on board with where we are now.
Due to the substantial nature of the work and the need to remove mold and lead-based materials, residents will need to temporarily transfer to other Staten Island NYCHA buildings for a period of six to nine months.
All residents will stay in the Section 9 public housing program, and the authority will supervise development as part of NYCHA’s Comprehensive Modernization. According to the agency, the project will be finished in four stages, and NYCHA will cover all reasonable moving costs. Not all residents will be moved at the same time.
According to Basic-Moore, the team here is staffed with resident relocation professionals who will build specific family move plans with each apartment and meet with each family one-on-one to continue the engagement NYCHA has initiated. After residents gave us their opinion, we made a commitment to upholding their right to return to their apartments, which they felt strongly about.
As part of NYCHA’s Comprehensive Modernization initiative, Saint Nicholas Houses in Harlem will also receive a comprehensive makeover in addition to the Todt Hill Houses.
According to the agency, the Comprehensive Modernization strategy avoids component-based repairs in favor of taking into account the requirements of the entire campus, which is similar with other extensive restoration initiatives in the NYCHA portfolio.
Capital funding allocation
$2.2 billion in funding support was made available for addressing key pillar areas of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) agreement, mainly lead-based paint and mold abatement, but also renovation of other building systems, after the City Capital Action Plan was approved in 2021.
NYCHA was able to raise a total of $740 million for Comprehensive Modernization at the two developments thanks to the city’s capital support and additional federal money.
Stephanie Figueroa, Connie Herrera, Jackie Resch-Copp, and Donna Walker, along with NYCHA Vice President of Comprehensive Modernization Michele Basic-Moore, are shown in this photo inside a mock apartment that will be used as a model for a significant renovation of every apartment in the Todt Hill Houses complex. (Erik Bascome/Staten Island Advance)Erik Bascome/Staten Island Advance
West Brighton I and II
A $332.3 million refurbishment project that includes a comprehensive overhaul of the units, building infrastructure, and common areas was initiated in July by NYCHA and BFC Partners.
Free Wi-Fi, new kitchens, baths, flooring, windows, paint, doors, and more will be provided to all apartments. In addition, building security, water, plumbing, and ventilation will all be improved. According to NYCHA, the project will also enhance building entryways, landscaping, public areas, and community safety.
Officials from the housing authority estimate that the project will be finished in the summer of 2026 once building has begun and will take about two years.
NYCHA’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program will be used to finish the project. PACT is the agency’s version of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), a program established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help housing authorities obtain federal funding to upgrade developments and guarantee their affordability.
The NYCHA West Brighton I and II complex is being renovated for $332.3 million by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and BFC Partners. (Erik Bascome/Staten Island Advance)Erik Bascome/Staten Island Advance
Through months of in-person and virtual meetings, in-home inspections, community events, surveying, model unit tours, and other resident input activities, the project team has been closely collaborating with the residents throughout the design process.
To make room for elevator modernization and the removal of environmental risks in their apartments, some residents will be temporarily moved to other units on the property while construction is underway.
After the repair is finished, the occupants will be put back in their old apartments.
In order to complete much-needed overhaul repairs of their developments, NYCHA forms public-private partnerships with private developers, property management firms, and social service providers under PACT. Additionally, they change the properties from public housing (Section 9) to project-based housing vouchers (Section 8).
Although NYCHA still owns the buildings, the PACT program permits private corporations to take over day-to-day complex administration.According to NYCHA, Pinnacle City Living will oversee the properties of West Brighton I and II following their conversion.
More than 1,400 people live in the 16 buildings that make up the NYCHA development. BFC Partners Development LLC, CB Emmanuel Realty LLC, and the nonprofit group Catholic Homes New York will collaborate to renovate 574 units throughout these buildings.
Beginning in the fall of 2021, NYCHA and the people of West Brighton I and II participated in a comprehensive community engagement process with the assistance of a technical adviser, Censere Consulting. After interviewing a number of possible partners and reviewing their proposals, the committee chose BFC Partners, CB Emmanuel Realty, and Catholic Homes New York.
Seven years have passed since NYCHA began working to modernize its developments, many of which have not seen renovations in decades. The PACT initiative has repaired or is currently repairing over 20,000 residential units, according to the agency’s website. At the moment, 72 PACT projects are underway.
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