Beginning in early 2021, MHANY partnered with the Kew Gardens Civic Association and Kew Gardens Council to submit a unique response to an MTA request for a master lessee to manage the property and stores situation on the Lefferts Boulevard Bridge.

The RFP called for maintaining the two buildings on the bridge and managing the 14 stores located within those two buildings that are at the heart of Kew Gardens’ main shopping area. In addition to the requirements of a master lease, the MTA/LIRR requested that the selected developer undertake the structural work necessary to stabilize the bridge that sits directly above the MTA/LIRR mainline tracks.

MHANY’s interest in taking on this unique endeavor, we believe, may have been the first time that a not-for-profit housing and property development organization has offered to manage MTA-owned properties. MHANY’s commitment to this economic non-residential development project aligns with our mutual housing mission of not-for-profit ownership and management and local involvement as reflected by our work with the local Kew Gardens civic associations, the existing storeowner representatives and with our intent of maintaining the existing character of the buildings.

This project will require approximately $11 million in capital improvements for the buildings, and an additional $5.5 million to repair structural work on the bridge. MHANY’s decades of development experience in combination with tenant in-place rehabilitations, will allow the existing small mom and pop stores who have served the community for over 20 years and are already hit hard by the pandemic - a chance to thrive at affordable rents. A vital, diverse commercial strip is an asset to the neighborhood, providing needed jobs, and sales tax revenues to the State of New York.