Affordable apartments in Garden City open to applicants nearly 20 years after housing bias lawsuit

Florent, a new luxury building on Stewart Avenue in Garden.

A housing lottery opened Thursday offering 15 affordable apartments in Garden City that are the legacy of a housing discrimination lawsuit first filed nearly 20 years ago. The apartments in the 150-unit Florent luxury development are located at 555 Stewart Ave. just south of Roosevelt Field mall. The set-aside units were part of a 2014 court order following a housing discrimination lawsuit against Garden City village. It requires any apartment building with five or more units in the village to make 10% of units affordable to people earning no more than 80% of the area’s median income. In 2021, the developer, Nashville-based Southern Land Co., said it believed the project was the first multifamily rental housing built in Garden City in 50 years, and estimated its total cost at $100 million. Applications are available at lihp.org/rentals.html and must be completed online by Aug. 30 at 5 p.m. Several of the units are well below local market rents. Two one-bedroom units will rent for $720 a month and four two-bedroom units will rent for $908 a month. Those units are set aside for people earning 30% or less of area median income, which is $32,800 for an individual or $46,850 for a family of four. Five units with higher rents are available to people earning up to 80% of area median income, which is $87,500 for an individual or $100,000 for a couple. Two-bedroom units for that income band will rent for $2,861. In other recent housing lotteries, there have been hundreds more applications than units available. "You don’t see many opportunities at these income levels and in a location like this on Long Island," said James Britz, chief operating officer at Long Island Housing Partnership, which is running the housing lottery. "I’m sure we’re going to see a large demand." Market rents at Florent are much higher. Asking rents for available units advertised online start around $4,600 for a one-bedroom, with the most expensive three-bedroom unit asking nearly $10,800. The affordability requirement arose from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Mutual Housing Association of New York and New York Communities for Change, which alleged Garden City violated federal law when it rezoned 25 acres of county-owned land to prevent affordable housing from being built. U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt ruled in 2013 that Garden City violated federal law by "acting with discriminatory intent" when the village made its zoning decision after there was public backlash against potential affordable housing. Spatt wrote local residents’ comments "reflected race-based animus" or could have been construed that way by the village board of trustees. Garden City’s adoption of the zoning change "had a disparate impact on minorities in Garden City and tended to perpetuate segregation in that community," wrote Spatt, who died in 2020. The apartments will provide opportunities for Long Islanders to stay here who might not otherwise be able to afford to do so, said Frederick K. Brewington, a Hempstead-based civil rights attorney who represented the plaintiffs in the case along with Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and law firm Hogan Lovells. "With regard to the issue of race, change comes slowly," he said. "We are a nation that has built wealth on the backs of Black and brown persons, and this is a long overdue recognition of the need for some level of equity." The village’s decision at the center of the federal case is an example of exclusionary zoning, Brewington said, in which municipalities use zoning rules to put up barriers to keep certain categories of people from living in specific areas. Those policies have had far-reaching effects on housing and education on Long Island, he said, and are not limited to Garden City. "We know that Long Island, both Suffolk and Nassau, are two of the most segregated counties in the country, and these zoning laws help to perpetuate that," he said. Anthony La Pinta, an attorney who served as Garden City's fair housing compliance officer until 2019 in a position created under the federal court order, said he was "pleased to learn this long-term housing project has been completed and that affordable housing has been established in Garden City. It's long overdue." The apartments at the Florent are, to his knowledge, the first to become available since the court created the affordable housing requirement, La Pinta said. LIHP will screen applicants for eligibility, while the developer will conduct credit and background checks, Britz said. Southern reached an agreement with the Nassau County IDA in 2021 to receive 21 years of property tax savings, a $2.6 million sales tax exemption and a $477,000 mortgage recording tax exemption. Southern's payments in lieu of taxes will average $1.3 million through 2043. Recent research has shown there is little land on Long Island where apartments can be built without local approval. In Garden City village, zoning rules prohibit multifamily housing for three families or more on 96% of land that is zoned for residential use. Such housing is only allowed on 0.13 square miles in the village, according to the Long Island Zoning Atlas. That percentage is roughly the same as the Islandwide average but some communities allow developers to build apartments on a greater portion of available land. Garden City Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan did not return a call seeking comment on Thursday. LIHP said it would work to set a drawing date a few weeks after the Aug. 30 deadline to randomly prioritize applicants. The new tenants will be able to move in toward the end of the year, officials said. Brewington hopes the village will publicize the lottery and invite people to apply. "This is a celebration time," he said. "Even though it’s 15 units, it’s a start."

In 2021, the developer, Nashville-based Southern Land Co., said it believed the project was the first multifamily rental housing built in Garden City in 50 years, and estimated its total cost at $100 million.

WHAT TO KNOW

The set-aside units were part of a 2014 court order following a housing discrimination lawsuit against Garden City village. It requires any apartment building with five or more units in the village to make 10% of units affordable to people earning no more than 80% of the area’s median income.
Applications are available at lihp.org/rentals.html and must be completed online by Aug. 30 at 5 p.m.
Market rents at Florent are much higher. Asking rents for available units advertised online start around $4,600 for a one-bedroom, with the most expensive three-bedroom unit asking nearly $10,800.

Applications are available at lihp.org/rentals.html and must be completed online by Aug. 30 at 5 p.m.

Sign up for the Daily Business newsletter

Stay in the know on jobs, retail and all things business across Long Island.

By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.

Several of the units are well below local market rents. Two one-bedroom units will rent for $720 a month and four two-bedroom units will rent for $908 a month. Those units are set aside for people earning 30% or less of area median income, which is $32,800 for an individual or $46,850 for a family of four.

Five units with higher rents are available to people earning up to 80% of area median income, which is $87,500 for an individual or $100,000 for a couple. Two-bedroom units for that income band will rent for $2,861.

In other recent housing lotteries, there have been hundreds more applications than units available.

"You don’t see many opportunities at these income levels and in a location like this on Long Island," said James Britz, chief operating officer at Long Island Housing Partnership, which is running the housing lottery. "I’m sure we’re going to see a large demand."

Market rents at Florent are much higher. Asking rents for available units advertised online start around $4,600 for a one-bedroom, with the most expensive three-bedroom unit asking nearly $10,800.

'Discriminatory intent'

The affordability requirement arose from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Mutual Housing Association of New York and New York Communities for Change, which alleged Garden City violated federal law when it rezoned 25 acres of county-owned land to prevent affordable housing from being built.

U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Spatt ruled in 2013 that Garden City violated federal law by "acting with discriminatory intent" when the village made its zoning decision after there was public backlash against potential affordable housing.

Spatt wrote local residents’ comments "reflected race-based animus" or could have been construed that way by the village board of trustees.

Garden City’s adoption of the zoning change "had a disparate impact on minorities in Garden City and tended to perpetuate segregation in that community," wrote Spatt, who died in 2020.

The apartments will provide opportunities for Long Islanders to stay here who might not otherwise be able to afford to do so, said Frederick K. Brewington, a Hempstead-based civil rights attorney who represented the plaintiffs in the case along with Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and law firm Hogan Lovells.

"With regard to the issue of race, change comes slowly," he said. "We are a nation that has built wealth on the backs of Black and brown persons, and this is a long overdue recognition of the need for some level of equity."

The village’s decision at the center of the federal case is an example of exclusionary zoning, Brewington said, in which municipalities use zoning rules to put up barriers to keep certain categories of people from living in specific areas. Those policies have had far-reaching effects on housing and education on Long Island, he said, and are not limited to Garden City.

"We know that Long Island, both Suffolk and Nassau, are two of the most segregated counties in the country, and these zoning laws help to perpetuate that," he said.

Anthony La Pinta, an attorney who served as Garden City's fair housing compliance officer until 2019 in a position created under the federal court order, said he was "pleased to learn this long-term housing project has been completed and that affordable housing has been established in Garden City. It's long overdue."

The apartments at the Florent are, to his knowledge, the first to become available since the court created the affordable housing requirement, La Pinta said.

LIHP will screen applicants for eligibility, while the developer will conduct credit and background checks, Britz said. Southern reached an agreement with the Nassau County IDA in 2021 to receive 21 years of property tax savings, a $2.6 million sales tax exemption and a $477,000 mortgage recording tax exemption. Southern's payments in lieu of taxes will average $1.3 million through 2043.

Recent research has shown there is little land on Long Island where apartments can be built without local approval. In Garden City village, zoning rules prohibit multifamily housing for three families or more on 96% of land that is zoned for residential use. Such housing is only allowed on 0.13 square miles in the village, according to the Long Island Zoning Atlas.

That percentage is roughly the same as the Islandwide average but some communities allow developers to build apartments on a greater portion of available land.

Garden City Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan did not return a call seeking comment on Thursday.

LIHP said it would work to set a drawing date a few weeks after the Aug. 30 deadline to randomly prioritize applicants. The new tenants will be able to move in toward the end of the year, officials said.

Brewington hopes the village will publicize the lottery and invite people to apply.

"This is a celebration time," he said. "Even though it’s 15 units, it’s a start."

By Jonathan LaMantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.