Construction got underway last week on part of the last phase of the Cooper Sq. Urban Renewal Area. Located on the south side of E. Houston St., between the Bowery and Chrystie St., the building will include 360 rental apartments — 288 market rate and 72 for low-income tenants, as well as 89,000 sq. ft. of retail space and 38,000 sq. ft. of community-facility space, to be run by the YMCA and University Settlement. The developers are Chrystie Venture Partners, a partnership of Avalon Bay Communities, Inc., and Phipps. The development team will next build on the site across Houston St. currently occupied by the former Church of All Nations building, as part of the renewal project’s completion. In total, 25 percent, or 178, of the 712 units in the C.V.P.-Phipps project will be rented to low-income tenants earning less than 60 percent of area median income, that is, less than $24,000 for a single person and less than $37,000 for a family of four. The Cooper Sq. Committee is also developing an additional 54 units of low-income housing in the renewal area.
