L+M began life in 1984 as a builder of market-rate residential projects in the city. It was only when the housing downturn hit, late in that decade, that the company launched into affordable housing. Having made the switch once, L+M knew the drill.
Today, with six projects under way—all of them 100% affordable—L+M is busy. In Wallabout, Brooklyn, L+M is redeveloping a former naval prison into a 458-unit mixed-income apartment building to be called Navy Green. Meanwhile, in Manhattan, the developer is hard at work on Harlem River Point, a 346-unit property on Park Avenue, just north of East 131st Street.
Three years ago, L+M also got into the business of rehabilitating distressed affordable-housing properties. At the largest of those projects, the company is working with the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement on a $75 million renovation of 14 buildings in the Bradhurst section of Manhattan.
As a part of its push into rehab work, L+M has collaborated with Citi Community Capital, which has created a $100 million fund to help finance and rehabilitate affordable housing across the city. To date, its New York Affordable Housing Preservation Fund has preserved more than 1,300 units in 14 buildings. Now there is talk of a second fund.
