Evergreen

n 2017 the Department of Housing Preservation (HPD’s) identified 87 vacant lots to be included into its New Infill Homeownership Opportunity Program (NIHOP). NIHOP seeks to promote mixed-income communities with affordable homeownership opportunities for moderate- and middle-income households earning up to 80-90 and up to 130 percent of Area Median Income (AMI). The program provides land and construction financing to qualified developers with the goal to build affordable condominiums for working families in low income neighborhoods. The agency’s goal is to spur neighborhood revitalization directly through infill of vacant lots and indirectly through creation of opportunities to own property in the areas where homeownership is beyond the reach of many residents.

Morozov is proud to be involved with a number of NIHOP projects. One of them- Rochester Suydam- consists of 3 clusters of 7 new buildings along Herkimer Street, Rochester, and Ralph Avenues in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The 7 buildings contain a combined total of 66 one- and two-bedroom apartments with a combined project size of 66,336 square feet.

All the buildings within the NIHOP program are designed to a higher energy performance criterion than required by 2016 New York city Energy Conservation Code.  Although the 66 units vary in layouts and sizes, all are provided with state-of-the-art central air HVAC and smart thermostats, thermally broken windows, Energy Star appliances, WaterSense plumbing fixtures, and LED lights with occupancy and daytime dimming controls.

One of the biggest challenges for the design team was the budget. Because of HPD funding limits, each apartment had to be built for less than $ 70,000. Morozov engineers worked hand-in-hand with architect, sustainability consultant, developer, and vendors to carefully size and select MEP equipment while meeting energy efficiency and comfort goals of the project.

Cooling and heating systems include residential single-zone ducted mini split systems, gas-fired condensing domestic water heaters. Fresh air is introduced into each apartment via energy recovery ventilators.