Project Renewal Inc. is one of New York City’s largest providers of comprehensive health care, housing, and employment services for the city’s homeless population. The organization was established in 1967 as the Manhattan Bowery Corporation, a voluntary 48-bed medical detoxification program, and now serves 16,000 people throughout the city each year.
Since 1998, one of Project Renewal’s initiatives has been to operate and provide on-site social services for the New Providence Women’s Shelter, a 130-bed emergency facility in Midtown Manhattan for homeless women suffering from mental illness and substance abuse. Built in 1939 as a convent and nursery, the property became a shelter in 1997 and is now owned by the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS).
With the aging building in need of significant repairs, Project Renewal developed a new plan for New Providence. The organization partnered with the affordable housing developer Monadnock Capital LLC to establish a new entity—the New Providence Redevelopment Joint Venture—to acquire the property from DHS and build a 21-story, 133,000-square-foot building in its place.
The new facility will include a 171-bed emergency shelter for single adult women, as well as 129 affordable studio apartments, 78 of which will be supportive units for homeless individuals. In addition, the property will have a medical clinic on the first floor that will serve the residents and the broader community. Project Renewal will serve as the facility’s manager and social services provider, and Monadnock Capital will serve as the general contractor.
Leviticus provided a $330,000 predevelopment loan to the New Providence Redevelopment Joint Venture to support this project. The two organizations used the funding to finance the costs of completing the required Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), a complex, time-consuming process in which applications affecting land use in the city are publicly reviewed. NYC suspended the ULURP process for six months during the early days of the pandemic, which backed up the application process. Because of Leviticus’ support, the borrower is able to move quickly to secure approval, expectantly avoiding further delays given pending changes in the city’s administration.
This was the first time Leviticus has provided financing either to Project Renewal or to Monadnock Capital. We are pleased to be able to support these two highly experienced organizations and their vision for a new shelter in the heart of Manhattan.
