Revealed: Atlantic Yards’ (expensive) affordable and market rents

Despite the fact that every day, the promise of not just affordable housing, but housing in general, going up near the Barclays Center seems like a crueler and crueler joke, people are still saying it’s going to happen. And as long as people are there saying that, Norman Oder from Atlantic Yards Report will be digging up government documents telling us bad news about it. Like the thing he published today, a financing agreement between the New York City Housing Development Corporation and Forest City Ratner, showing what the projected rents for the apartments at 461 Dean Street will be. Do you want the bad news, or the really bad news?

The projected rents, based on the Area Median Income from 2012 (you’d better hope it’s down a little by 2014) show one single 2-bedroom apartment at Dean Street for as low as $648/month. The majority of the affordable 2-bedroom (21 of them) apartments, coming in at 120% and 150% of the AMI are projected at $2180 and $2740 per month. Wheeeee, affordable!

Of course, the real fun comes in the market rate apartments. To FCR’s credit, we suppose, most of the 2-bedroom apartments are set aside for the affordable housing in the development, and presumably, families. And the housing is split evenly between the non-market rate and market rate. But the market rate studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms at 461 Dean were looking like they’d come in at $2611, $3353 and $4403 per month. And this was before the real estate market here was completely insane. The lesson is, as always, that Ra’s al Ghul was right about everything.