Five World Trade Center’s 900-Foot-Tall Redesign By Kohn Pedersen Fox Revealed, In Manhattan’s Financial District - New York Yimby In an exciting reveal for the ongoing redevelopment and rebuilding of the World Trade Center, Kohn Pedersen Fox has unveiled the first set of renderings for its proposed 900-foot-tall design for Five World Trade Center, aka 130 Liberty Street. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey selected the winning bid at a board meeting on Thursday afternoon to allow Silverstein Properties, Brookfield Properties, Omni New York LLC, and Dabar Development Partners to lease the 1.56-million-square-foot mixed-use building under a 99-year ground lease. The building will yield 190,000 square feet of office space, a 12,000-square-foot community facility space, 55,000 square feet of public amenity space, 7,000 square feet of retail space, and 1.2 million square feet of residential space divided into 1,325 apartments. Of these, 330, or 25 percent of the total inventory, will be devoted to affordable housing. Five World Trade Center will be built on the former home of the 39-story Deustsche Bank Building, which was heavily damaged on 9/11 and fully demolished by late January 2011. Today the Financial District site, currently owned by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), sits to the south of the elevated Liberty Park and Santiago Calatrava‘s St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, and is bound by Greenwich Street to the east, Albany Street to the south, and Washington Street to the west… After nearly two decades in the making, Five World Trade Center will be the first building in the World Trade Center complex to feature residential living space, and is projected to create 10,000 construction jobs, 1,900 permanent jobs, and $1.9 billion in economic output. Construction is expected to commence in 2023 and finish in 2028. Read More > More Than 2,500 Turkeys Given Out to Brooklyn NYCHA Residents - The Arker Companies and Omni New York partnered to give away the turkeys to nine housing developments across the borough. - BK Reader More than 2,000 families living in nine NYCHA developments across Brooklyn will be dishing up turkey on Thanksgiving thanks to a partnership between two housing development companies. The Arker Companies and Omni New York donated 2,625 turkeys to NYCHA’s Armstrong I, Armstrong II, Weeksville Gardens, Berry Street-South 9th Street, Marcy Avenue-Greene Avenue Site A, Marcy Avenue-Greene Avenue Site B, 572 Warren Street, Independence Towers and Williams Plaza over the weekend. It is the second year the companies have teamed up to donate the turkeys… Omni Executive Director of Development David Fleming said the team was grateful for the opportunity to provide families and households with a little joy and gift during the holiday and for Thanksgiving. “Looking forward, we hope to be able to continue this tradition for others in the years to come.” The Arker Companies and Omni New York and other partners were selected last year to repair, refurbish, and manage the nine NYCHA sites as part of the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program. As part of the program, every unit in the buildings will get full kitchen, bathroom, window and door repairs, as well as building-wide improvements, such as elevators, security, and heating system upgrades. Overall more than 6,300 residents will benefit from the program. Read More > During the current Covid-19 pandemic, OMNI NEW YORK & their property management company RELIANT REALTY, have been providing meals and personal protection equipment to their residents throughout their portfolio. In Wake Of Pandemic, Jersey City Moving Forward With Largest Mixed-Income Housing Development In Tri-State Region - InnovateJC.Org JERSEY CITY – Mayor Steven M. Fulop, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA), and the Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce (HEDC) announce an agreement for construction of the first phase of Bayfront, the largest mixed-income development site in the region. The city acquired the 100-acre Bayfront property from Honeywell Corporation in 2016 for $100 million with the city stating at the time a reason for the acquisition is to meet the goal of increasing the on-site affordable housing requirements from 5%, that was previously stipulated in the redevelopment plan, to a new goal of 35% with the city controlling the property. At the next Jersey City Redevelopment Agency meeting, the city will formally designate two nationally recognized leading affordable housing developers, Bayfront Development Partners, LLC, a joint venture of Pennrose, LLC, and Omni America, LLC (“Pennrose/Omni”) and BRP Development Group (“BRP”) to implement phase one the Bayfront Redevelopment Plan pursuant to their competitive RFP responses to the city. Phase one, which will be approved next week, consists of 16-acres of the total 100-acre property that the city acquired, and pursuant to the announced agreement, the two selected developers will pay a total of $26 million to develop this first phase of Bayfront. Read More > PROJECT PARACHUTE TO SUPPORT VULNERABLE NEW YORKERS IMPACTED BY COVID-19 - AMNY Over 40 owners of market-rate and affordable apartment buildings, nonprofits, and service providers have come together to help New Yorkers stay in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new initiative, called “Project Parachute,” was launched with an initial $4 million dollar investment from property owners so vulnerable New Yorkers impacted by COVID-19. Project Parachute aims to reach those who have limited or no access to government resources, including undocumented immigrants and shadow economy workers. The Project also seeks to support those New York City communities hit disproportionately hard by the COVID pandemic, including Black and Latino communities. “We have one common purpose in this moment: keeping New Yorkers in their homes,” said Judi Kende, vice president and New York market leader of Enterprise Community Partners. “Project Parachute is one of many steps needed towards providing vital resources to tenants, especially the unserved and underserved. Partnership between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors is critical, and we are thankful for the commitment of the nonprofits and property owners taking part in this important initiative. And as we now face one of the biggest economic, health, and housing crises in our lifetime, we commit to advocating for additional solutions, including federal funding for comprehensive rental assistance that will help ensure ongoing housing stability for both tenants and property owners.” The philanthropic fund will be coordinated and managed by Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit organization focused on affordable housing, which will design the program in collaboration with tenants and community-based organizations, to ensure the program meets the needs of hardest-hit New Yorkers who are unserved or underserved by existing resources. The partners involved in the project will be grant money to human services nonprofits across the city, enabling them to reach more low-income New Yorkers impacted by COVID-19. Read More > For more information about Project Parachute, visit www.projectparachute.nyc. OMNI NEW YORK SETS NEW STANDARD - Housing Finance Magazine When Omni New York, a company focused on the acquisition and rehabilitation of affordable rental properties, had the opportunity to build a new development, it decided to raise the bar on sustainability. Its first new construction project was Morris I Apartments on a site next to the firm’s Maria Lopez Plaza acquisition/rehab project in the Bronx. The 160-unit development was certified LEED Gold, a high standard for the firm and the industry, according to Abdulla Darrat, who was vice president of development of Omni and is now senior vice president at affiliate Renewal Construction Services. The firm was even more aggressive when doing the second phase, Park Avenue Green, creating the largest affordable housing building in North America certified by Passive House Institute US… Completed in winter 2018, Park Avenue Green meets multiple neighborhood, serving formerly homeless individuals to those earning up to 80% of the area median income and providing 4,000 square feet of affordable studio and gallery space for local artists. Read More > NYCHA FINALIZES DEAL FOR MORE THAN 6,300 BROOKLYN RESIDENTS - Press Release from New York City Housing Authority NEW YORK – Today, NYCHA announced the closing of the seventh Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) transaction, which will provide more than $370 million in major repairs and renovations for 2,625 units throughout Brooklyn. The development team is a joint venture between The Arker Companies, Omni New York LLC, Dabar Development Partners, and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. Williamsburg Housing Preservation, LLC and Brooklyn Preservation Developers, LLC were selected in early 2019 following a competitive public Request for Proposals. “Today’s announcement marks another critical step towards fulfilling our pledge to ensure that all NYCHA residents are able to live in quality affordable housing,” said NYCHA Chair & CEO Greg Russ. “The funding and partnerships we’ve secured through this transaction will help us address a significant amount of capital need at our developments and position these campuses for success in the future.” Read More > PASSIVE HOUSE PROJECT SETS RECORD IN THE BRONX - Commercial Property Executive View fullsize At first glance, you might not guess that Park Avenue Green is a record-setter. But the 15-story, 154-unit mixed-income community in the South Bronx nevertheless represents a major contribution to the sustainability movement: It is the largest building in North America so far to meet the exacting standards required to earn Passive House certification for energy efficiency. Developed by Omni New York LLC, Park Avenue Green completes a two-phase development that started with Morris Avenue Apartments, a neighboring LEED Gold-certified community…. Besides its stature as the continent’s largest Passive House building, at least two other feature make Park Avenue Green noteworthy. It is a rare example of a New York City property that is both new and affordable, “because across New York City and elsewhere, more and more new construction is not affordable,” said Eugene Schneur, Omni New York’s co-managing director and co-founder. Read More > A GREEN AFFORDABLE HOUSING LESSON FROM THE BRONX - Multi-Housing News View fullsize Building affordable housing projects in New York City is definitely a challenging task. And if developers want to add a sustainability component, it’s even more problematic due to exorbitant land prices, rising construction costs and strict green standards that need to be met. However, it’s certainly not impossible. Omni New York, a company that has owned and managed more than 14,000 units of affordable housing in 11 states, has recently completed Park Avenue Green, a 154-unit mixed-income community at 2980 Park Ave. in the South Bronx, dubbed North America’s largest building to earn Passive House certification for energy efficiency. Eugene Schneur, CEO & co-founder of the real estate development company that focuses on affordable housing, shared some insights on the record-setting project as well as his views on the market and the current state of the energy sector in NYC. Read More > THE COUNTRY’S LARGEST PASSIVE DEVELOPMENT BRINGS AFFORDABLE HOUSING TO THE SOUTH BRONX - New York YIMBY Park Avenue Green, a new affordable housing community in the South Bronx is officially the largest Passive House development in North America. Defined by a stringent checklist of sustainable requirements, the project’s design reduces the expenditure of energy by incorporating a thoroughly sealed building envelope, advanced ventilation systems, low-energy cooling systems, and rooftop solar panels. Beyond these impressive energy standards, Park Avenue Green will also offer 154 apartments including 35 units reserved for the formerly homeless. Spaceworks, a nonprofit that creates low-cost spaces for artists, will manage and operate a 4,300-square-foot community facility on the building’s ground floor. When fully operational, the facility will provide studio and gallery space for local artists. The $48.4 million project is developed by Omni New York, who secured partial financing from the New York City Housing Development Corporation and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Construction wrapped in February 2019 and apartments are currently available to prospective tenants. Read More > OMNI BREAKS GROUND ON $68M AFFORDABLE BRONX COMMUNITY - Multi-Housing News "Omni New York broke ground on Morris II Apartments, an affordable housing community being constructed in the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx. The $67.7 million developement was financed under the New York City Housing Development Corp. (HDC) and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Developement's (HPD) Extremely Low and Low-Income Affordability Program (ELLA) and Our Space Initiative." Read More > CITY TAPS DEVELOPER TO TRANSFORM NYPD GARAGE IN JAMAICA INTO LARGE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT - Crains New York "The city selected a developer to turn a former NYPD parking garage in Jamaica, Queens, into a large, mixed use complez with more than 350 affordable apartments, officials announced Thursday. The building, which will be developed by Omni New York, is a key component of the de Blasio administration's 2015 economic development initiative called the Jamaica NOW Action Plan, which aims to spur job growth and retail development in the neighborhood." Read More > IN THE BIG LEAGUES - Affordable Housing Finance View fullsize "Vaughn, 46, is part of a trio leading Manhattan-based Omni. His partners are attorney Eugene Schneur and Rob Bennett, who has 25 years of affordable housing experience. Specializing in acquiring and rehabilitating neglected properties, the company has grown to become a major player in affordable housing. Going into its 10th year, it’s one of the industry’s largest owners, with about 7,800 units. Omni’s 34 properties are in New York City, upstate New York, Boston, and one in Wyoming." Read More > 40-YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR HARLEM RIVER PARK TOWERS - BronxTimes "It is a milestone year for the tallest buildings in the Bronx. It was 40 years ago this year that construction on the Harlem River Park Towers, located at 10, 20, 30 and 40 Richman Plaza, was completed. Four decades later, the two Bronx skyscrapers are still standing tall. The Harlem River Park Towers complex, which consists of two 44-story buildings, was completed in 1975." Read More > MO HEART, LESS HYPE - Real Estate New York "Founded in 2004 by former Mets and Red Sox slugger Maurice “Mo” Vaughn and his attorney, Eugene Schneur, Omni New York has quickly made an impact in the arena of affordable housing. The company’s strategy? Purchase properties with some of the worst reputations in New York City, generously upgrade units and amenities, and still keep the projects 100% affordable, while providing a valuable service to long-suffering residents." Read More > 40 UNDER 40 CLASS OF 2010 / EUGENE SCHNEUR - Crains New York "When Eugene Schneur emigrated from the former Soviet Union at age 7, he moved into an affordable-housing complex in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where Section 8 vouchers helped his family handle the rent. He couldn't have known then that he was doing career research. But the co-founder of Omni New York now makes a living buying and rehabilitating affordable-housing units in the tri-state area—a majority of which are Section 8 buildings." Read More > MEET LANDLORD EUGENE SCHNEUR, CO-FOUNDER OF OMNI NEW YORK AND PARTNER OF FORMER MAJOR LEAGUER MO VAUGHN - The Real Deal New York "We’re in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, as well as Westchester County, Nassau County, Ithaca, Massachusetts — and we have one property in Wyoming. But about 50 percent of the portfolio is in the Bronx." How did you meet your business partner, baseball All­ Star Mo Vaughn? I was a mergers and acquisitions attorney in my previous life and worked at Olshan Law. We were representing Mo when he was investing in some restaurants and lounges. One day, he called me and asked if I knew anything about affordable housing and lowincome tax credits. We didn’t do that kind of work, so I referred him to another firm. He called back — he was very persistent — and said, “This is a very interesting business.” Very quickly, he convinced me to leave the law firm and enter the low­income­housing world Read More > MO BETTER BUILDINGS - Sports Illustrated "As Mo Vaughn zips along the Deegan Expressway in his black Range Rover, he sneaks a peek at Yankee Stadium. "I did some great things there," says the three-time Red Sox All-Stair and 1995 AL MVP, who was forced to retire in 2003 due to chronic knee pain. "Though my career didn't end the way I wanted, seeing it reminds me that I'm still able to do great things in other ways." Read More > POWER PLAYER - The New York Times There are times when Maurice Vaughn, the former major league baseball player universally called Mo, is treated like a businessman — usually when he is deep in talks to buy ratty apartment buildings and make them habitable again. Then there are times when he is treated like catnip — usually by women, like the ones who spotted him strolling through the cleaned-up courtyard of one such apartment complex in Brownsville, Brooklyn, called the Plaza, that Mr. Vaughn and his partners bought in 2007." This is where Mr. Vaughn, a star slugger for the Boston Red Sox who quit baseball in 2003 after a lackluster run with the Mets, decided to build what he called his “afterlife” from the ashes of his baseball career. His six-year-old company, Omni New York LLC, is on its way to becoming a major player in the low-income housing world. It has acquired 4,000 apartments, most of them in New York State’s scrappiest neighborhoods, housing the poorest of tenants (98 percent of them qualify for Section 8 rent subsidies). Read More > MO VAUGHN’S OMNI NEW YORK IS BETTING ON THE BRONX - Commercial Observer "He may have once been known to swing for the fences and run the bases as a Major League Baseball player, but nowadays Maurice “Mo” Vaughn swings past his properties to check on the projects developed by his 500-employee real estate company. Mr. Vaughn’s firm, Omni New York, has nearly 12,000 housing units in various states around the country, about half of which are in New York City. And of the properties in New York, more than 4,250 units are in the Bronx." Mr. Vaughn’s firm, Omni New York, has nearly 12,000 housing units in various states around the country, about half of which are in New York City. And of the properties in New York, more than 4,250 units are in the Bronx. It’s sort of ironic, since the Bronx is synonymous with the New York Yankees, which Mr. Vaughn twice called his rival when he began his career in 1991 with the Boston Red Sox and when he ended it with the New York Mets in 2003. But today there is no animosity. “The baseball relationship is something totally different,” Mr. Vaughn, 47, told Commercial Observer during an interview by phone. “People know us in the boroughs that we are in because we provide a solid service.”… Together, Messrs. Schneur and Vaughn bought the massive, two-building, crime-plagued River Park Towers in the Bronx for $137 million in 2012 and are coming off a renovation of the property that nearly cost the same as the sale price. Mr. Schneur joined Mr. Vaughn for the interview to talk about how their relationship started, their rise to success, the lack of affordable housing in the city and the transformation of the Bronx. But first, how it all started for the man called Mo: Read More > OMNI NEW YORK LLC - 909 Third Avenue, 21st Floor New York, NY 10022