Ocean Bay Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

One of the 24 Ocean Bay buildings that underwent the RAD conversion.

Ribbon cutting.

HUD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, Hunter Kurtz, delivered remarks.

Developers, federal, state, local officials; and residents, attended the celebration.

HUD Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, Hunter Kurtz; HUD Region II Regional Administrator Lynne Patton; MDG Design + Construction; Wavecrest Management; New York State Homes and Community Renewal; federal and area elected officials, multiple stakeholders, and very happy residents; attended a ribbon cutting ceremony for Ocean Bay Apartments, a 24-building, 1,395-unit public housing complex in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York.

The $560 million redevelopment was New York City Housing Authority's first; and the country's largest single-site conversion under HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration.

First built in the early 1960s, Ocean Bay suffered from significant federal divestment, followed by extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Home to nearly 4,000 residents, Ocean Bay was in desperate need of repair, from in-unit renovations to the major rehabilitation of building infrastructure.

Completed in just two years, the redevelopment features entirely renovated kitchens and bathrooms; and apartment-wide upgrades including new windows and flooring. The project included roof replacements, a complete upgrade of elevator machinery and equipment, improved public hallways; and the installation of new boilers and heating systems. Safety upgrades included updated security cameras, improved interior and exterior lighting, and a new key fob entry system.

To ensure protection against future weather catastrophes, Ocean Bay received the third-largest solar panel installation at an affordable housing development in New York, a secure flood wall around the entire 33-acre site, water retention swales, stand-alone electric service buildings built above the flood zone, and the conversion of one central boiler steam system to 24 individual hydronic boilers on the roof of each building.

HUD Regional Administrator Lynne Patton said; "One of the most rewarding projects I've had the honor to see develop into the largest and most successful RAD-1 project in the country is Ocean Bay. MDG Design and Construction, and Wavecrest Management have not only transformed a distressed, decades-old property suffering from gross disrepair - destroyed by a storm - into a beacon of opportunity and hope, but they have also transformed the lives of the residents who now proudly call it home."

HUD RA Patton asked the residents to assist in educating other public housing residents living in buildings that will undergo RAD conversions and let them know that they will not be displaced, and that their tenant rights will be respected. Through a phased restoration process, all tenants were able to remain living in their homes throughout the renovations.

Additional partners include: Citi Community Capital; Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group; Richman Housing Resources; Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens; Ocean Bay Community Development Corporation; and the New York Police Department.

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