An affordable housing lottery has opened for five units in a newly constructed six-story building at 54 Throop Avenue in the Broadway Triangle area in Williamsburg.

Of the affordable apartments, there is one studio, a single one-bedroom unit and three two-bedroom units. Monthly rents start at $938 and top out at $1,223.

The lottery is set at an area median income range of 60 percent, which is beginning to become a rarity in Brooklyn. Eligible incomes range between $32,160 and $69,180 for households of one to five people.

Chart via NYC Housing Connect

There are 23 units in the building total. Besides a one-car garage in the cellar, the building is devoid of amenities.

The site formerly housed a one-story building that was home to Service Smoked Fish, a longtime Williamsburg smoked-fish factory that closed in 2016. Soon after, the building was demolished.

Solomon Schwimmer is listed as the owner on building permits. He purchased the building in February 2016 for $7.2 million.

The site in April 2007. Photo by Pinchus Glauber for PropertyShark

Diego Aguilera Architects P.C. is the architect of record. The firm has worked on a number of projects in Brooklyn, including a wraparound building with blank walls at 1595 Broadway in Bushwick.

Development in the area, known as the Broadway Triangle, has been mired in controversy for years. In 2009, a coalition of community groups sued the city over a planned affordable housing development there, charging racial and religious discrimination as well as failure to comply with due process. And in 2012, a state supreme court judge issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the city from moving forward with the development of housing.

Broadway Triangle. Image via Google Maps

The Broadway Triangle consists of some 31 acres in Williamsburg on the border of Bushwick and Bed Stuy bordered by Union Avenue, Broadway and Flushing Avenue.

Applications for the affordable housing lottery must be submitted by March 6, 2019. Apply through NYC Housing Connect. To learn more about how to apply for affordable housing, read Brownstoner’s guide.

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