New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development

HPD is the nation’s largest municipal housing preservation and development agency. Its mission is to promote quality housing and viable neighborhoods for New Yorkers through education, outreach, loan and development programs and enforcement of housing quality standards. It is responsible for implementing Mayor Bloomberg’s New Housing Marketplace Plan to finance the construction or preservation of 165,000 units of affordable housing by the close of the 2014 fiscal year. Since the plan’s inception, more than 142,800 affordable homes have been financed.

 

L+M Development Partners

Since 1984, L+M Development Partners has been an innovator in developing quality affordable, mixed-income and market rate housing, while improving the neighborhoods in which it works. A full-service firm, L+M works from conception to completion, handling development, investment, construction and management with creativity that leads the industry. L+M is responsible for more than $2.5 billion in development, investment and construction and has created more than 15,000 high-quality units in the tri-state area alone. The firm is also expanding its geographic footprint to the Gulf region and West coast. Community leaders, government officials and investment organizations turn to L+M because of its consistent track record of excellence.

L+M is a double bottom line company, where its success is measured not only in financial returns but also by the positive impact it makes. L+M takes pride in its long-standing dedication to the communities it serves, demonstrated through an annual scholarship fund, job training programs and substantial support for local non-profits. L+M brings a superior level of commitment to its investments in developments, and equally important, to its investment in people.

 

The Bluestone Organization

The Bluestone Organization is a Queens-based third generation family-owned developer of over 5,000 units of housing in the New York City metropolitan area over the past 85 years, including work force rental and homeownership units in conjunction with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, NYC Housing Development Corporation and NYC Housing Partnership, and the NY State Housing Finance Agency, Affordable Housing Corporation and Homes and Community Renewal. The firm has a proven track record of quality in design and construction, winning many local, state and national awards including most recently, the 2010 New York Housing Conference Private Developer of the Year Award, and The Andrew, recently completed in Rego Park Queens, was designated as “best performing building in a multifamily new construction four stories or greater” in New York State.

 

Triangle Equities

Triangle Equities is a diversified, full service real estate company. Triangle and its related entities develop, own, and manage commercial, residential, and mixed use properties in the New York Metropolitan area.

Triangle Equities focuses on “value-added” developments and specializes on city projects. We are efficient at obtaining all necessary approvals and working with municipal agencies to bring a project to fruition that utilizes a property to its full potential and realizes the best outcome and future potential for its tenants and community members.

Triangle’s success and continued strength is evidence by its ability to develop relationships and gather support from local community groups and elected officials. Our principals work hand in hand with the community, through a long and complex process, until both the community and elected officials are satisfied—thus ensuring the project reaches an economical and sociological conclusion.

 

Enterprise Community Partners

Enterprise is a leading provider of the development capital and expertise it takes to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities. For 30 years, Enterprise has introduced neighborhood solutions through public-private partnerships with financial institutions, governments, community organizations and others that share our vision. Enterprise has raised and invested more than $13.9 billion in equity, grants and loans to help build or preserve nearly 300,000 affordable rental and for-sale homes to create vital communities.

Since opening a New York office in 1987, Enterprise has created or preserved more than 41,000 affordable homes for 116,000 New Yorkers, and has committed over $2.4 billion in equity, grants, and loans to community development projects across the city.

 

AIA New York

AIA New York is the largest and oldest chapter of the American Institute of Architects, with nearly 5,000 architect and affiliate members. AIANY is dedicated to three goals: design excellence, public outreach, and professional development. Towards these aims, it operates the Center for Architecture – a storefront exhibition and event space in Greenwich Village – sponsors public programs, and publishes Oculus magazine. AIANY was an integral partner of two previous housing initiatives. The first, initiated in 2004, is the New Housing New York Legacy Project, which was New York City’s first juried design competition for affordable and sustainable housing that led to Via Verde in the South Bronx. The second, launched in 2012, is the adAPT NYC Competition to develop model micro-unit apartments.

On Saturday, August 17th, residents of Edgemere, Arverne, and other Rockaway neighborhoods met with the four FAR ROC design competition finalist teams in a Community Design Workshop funded by the Surdna Foundation to provide feedback on each of the unique proposals for the future development at Arverne East. Break out sessions focused on housing, commercial and economic development, recreation, and nature preserve areas for the 80+ acre site between Beach 56th Place and Beach 32nd Street.

 

Perhaps most significant, however, were the ideas developed in tandem by neighborhood residents and the competition finalist teams regarding possible interim uses for the Arverne East site. While permanent development will still take time on this site that has been sitting vacant for more than half a century, there is a potential opportunity for local residents to activate the spaces on and around the site in the immediate future. Several of the ideas proposed at the workshop are included below, and we encourage residents with additional ideas or proposals to submit them using the Feedback Form at the end of this page.

 

Feedback

Use the form below to provide your own ideas regarding potential interim uses at Arverne East, or to provide feedback on the finalists’ design proposals. Ideas submitted prior to September 20, 2013, will be shared with the four finalist teams for consideration as they prepare their Phase II proposals. Also, please feel free to check out our Privacy Policy regarding how we use and protect any information that you submit through the FARROC competition website.

Competition Structure

FARROC is structured as a two-part design ideas competition that will explore best practices and innovative strategies for the planning, design and construction of resilient and sustainable developments in waterfront areas. The competition aims to provide ideas and the basis of a master plan for the sensitive development of Arverne East, an 80+ acre site located in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area Zone A section of the Rockaways that experienced significant storm surge inundation during Hurricane Sandy. It is anticipated that the results of the competition will be used as a basis for further planning work with regard to Arverne East and as a prototype for long term planning and development strategies in other densely populated seaside communities in the Rockaways and beyond.

Phasing, Stipend, and Award

For Phase I of the competition, project teams are asked to submit a proposed site plan and an associated building parti along with ideas for resilient development, strategies for high-performance sustainable infrastructure, and appropriate and responsive programming for the site. Submissions from individuals, students, and non-licensed firms are welcomed during Phase I; however, finalist project teams proceeding to Phase II of the design competition must include at least one licensed architect and one licensed engineer. Successful Phase I entries will be given an opportunity to rectify any shortcomings with respect to their qualifications prior to commencement of Phase II.

The second phase of the competition will require further development of the selected Phase I entries by the selected competition teams. Subject to their agreement with the customary terms and conditions outlined in preliminary form in the design brief, each finalist team will be provided with a cash stipend of $30,000 to develop a design and planning report and other Phase II materials.

The winning project team will be announced on October 24th, 2013 in advance of the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. The winning team will receive an additional cash prize of $30,000.

Finalist entries for Phase II and, possibly, honorable mention submissions from Phase I, will be showcased in a public exhibition at the AIA New York Center for Architecture from November 6th to November 30th, 2013. These entries may be further showcased in subsequent publicity, exhibitions, and/or the official competition publication, if any. After the conclusion of the competition, one or more of the finalist project teams may be invited to enter into negotiations with L+M Development Partners, The Bluestone Organization, and Triangle Equities for possible engagement as the appointed master planner, architect and engineer for the site, with a scope to produce design and construction documents for the further development of the project.

Design Solutions

The FARROC Design Competition resulted in 117 unique design proposals for the resilient development of Arverne East from over 20 countries around the globe–a truly international response to a design problem that will face more and more of our world’s communities in coming years. From those entries, four finalists and six honorable mentions were selected.

The four finalists each received a stipend of $30,000 to aid in further development of their design proposals, which they then presented to the FAR ROC Design Jury on October 22, 2013. After extensive deliberation, the jury selected Small Means and Great Ends by Stockholm-based firm White Arkitekter as the winning design solution. Additionally, the jury recognized F.R.E.D. by New York-based firm Ennead Architects for Leading Innovation in Resilient Waterfront Design.