Brooklyn Real Estate Leaders Launch Housing Creation Platform to Tackle NYC's Affordability Crisis

Ailanthus platform will create 10,000 new units of housing in New York by deploying a community-driven approach and attracting capital that has historically shied away from entitlement efforts; will commit a percentage of profits to Brooklyn Org

With 1,500 units in their development pipeline, the Ailanthus team is strongly positioned to capitalize on housing policy reforms laid out in the New York State FY2025 budget, including a tax break for affordable-housing construction

BROOKLYN, N.Y., May 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ailanthus, a new housing creation platform that aims to create 10,000 new units in New York City over the next five years, was launched today by Ofer Cohen, Tucker Reed and Vivian Liao. The principals have collaborated on several Brooklyn projects over the last five years, with a pipeline of approximately 1,500 housing units through developments such as 1057 Atlantic Avenue and 737 Fourth Avenue. As an extension of the platform's mission-driven approach, Ailanthus will also commit a percentage of profits to local nonprofits through Brooklyn Org.

Ailanthus takes direct aim at the capital assumption that entitlement efforts are riskier, drawing on a track record of success of assembling sites, partnering with community stakeholders and successfully entitling large housing projects. By focusing on community-driven entitlement processes, Ailanthus will unlock a significant pipeline for housing creation that has often been overlooked by investors.

The platform is well-positioned to leverage New York's recently passed housing measures including significant tax breaks and policy reforms which de-risk the entitlement process for developers with deep public-private expertise.

"Time is of the essence if we want to make a dent in the city's affordability crisis, and you cannot make a dent if you only approach housing creation by focusing on shovel ready sites," said Ofer Cohen, a principal at Ailanthus and Chairman of TerraCRG, who spent the last 20 years in Brooklyn advising property owners and institutions on their development projects. "Ailanthus will help right size the risk profile of entitlement efforts from an investment perspective and ultimately, create significantly more housing by unlocking projects at the pre-development phase, which we have a demonstrated record of successfully achieving."

The Ailanthus platform builds on the combined team's unique transactional expertise, assembling unique large-scale sites and successfully rezoning them for housing development through grassroots community engagement and government relations. Once shovel ready, the team capitalizes on the vertical stage of the development with mission-driven institutional capital. This model will serve as a differentiator as the Ailanthus team looks to double down on its impact across NYC, and especially in the Brooklyn market.

The Rent Stabilization Act of 2019, combined with the expiration of the 421-A tax abatement, has resulted in a significant pause in the creation of new rental housing projects, further straining the City's housing supply and affordability. In a neighborhood like Downtown Brooklyn, market-rate rents for a one-bedroom apartment doubled in 15 years. To keep up with population growth and demand, NYC needs approximately 500,000 housing units to be built in under a decade.

"The confluence of the housing shortage together with complex city and state policy frameworks and capital markets that have been burdened by high interest rates, further exacerbate our current affordability crisis," said Tucker Reed, a principal at Ailanthus and co-founder of Totem, who spent the last two decades executing complex public private projects in Brooklyn. "Through Ailanthus, we are poised to do the hard work of creating new housing supply that will lead to a more equitable and sustainable future for generations to come."

To ensure local communities are integrated into the DNA of its projects, Ailanthus will donate a percentage of its GP profits to local nonprofits through a partnership with Brooklyn Org, a local community foundation that does participatory grantmaking solely focused on Brooklyn.

Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, President and CEO of Brooklyn Org said, "Brooklyn Org is proud to work in partnership with Ailanthus to address one of the largest challenges we face in building a more equitable Brooklyn: the lack of truly affordable housing. Affordable housing cannot exist without investing in the community resources that strong, healthy neighborhoods need and I am so pleased that Ailanthus will be making those investments with Brooklyn Org's community-based charitable giving platform."

To learn more about Ailanthus, visit ailanthus.co.

About Ailanthus
Ailanthus is a housing creation platform focused on transformative housing projects in the New York City region, with a special emphasis on Brooklyn. Drawing on two decades of transactional expertise and navigating government and community processes, our team aims to create 10,000 units of housing over the next 5 years.

CONTACT: [email protected]

SOURCE Ailanthus