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Douglaston Development has been a mainstay of metropolitan New York’s housing sector for decades, building and managing thousands of new and rehabilitated residential units in the affordable, market rate, hospitality and senior living sectors. It has also developed millions of square meters of commercial space. Douglaston has forged strong relationships with local housing agencies and community-focused nonprofits to create projects that, in turn, become catalysts for thriving, sustainable neighborhoods.
Founded as a local contractor in 1979, Manhattan-based Douglaston has grown into a vertically integrated platform that includes development, construction and property management. The company says it has financed more than $3 billion in development over the past seven years, with an additional $2.2 billion in projects currently in pre-development in the metro area and beyond. Jeffrey Levine, founding director and president, has earned numerous accolades for making housing the centerpiece of complex projects that have spurred the transformation of neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Levine, who began his career in construction, discussed the evolution and philosophy of his 200-person organization with ENR in a conversation. which has been edited and condensed.
Douglaston Development’s current projects at a glance:
2868 Webster Avenue
Douglaston broke ground earlier this year on the 12-story, 277-unit affordable housing development in the Bedford Park neighborhood of the Bronx. Located next to the New York Botanical Garden, the 250,000-square-foot project includes 8,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space that will nearly double the size of the community’s existing grocery store. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2027.
175 East 82nd Street
A 39-story mixed-use development is under construction on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that will offer more than 70 condominiums, with units ranging from one to six bedrooms. The project will also have 3,000 square meters of commercial space on the ground floor and state-of-the-art services. Scheduled for completion in late 2027, the tower replaces part of an existing residential building on the site, while retaining the portion set aside for affordable housing.
Sparrow Square
The firm is also partnering with the nonprofit Breaking Ground Housing Development Fund Corp. in the initial phase of a $242 million project that will create two 10-story buildings containing more than 260 affordable and supportive housing units in Brooklyn. Other elements include a community facility for the Brooklyn Ballet and a private drive that connects the project to the East Flatbush street network. Sparrow Square is part of the global Vital Brooklyn Initiative, a $1.4 billion program that invests in housing, health care and community development throughout the borough.
What recent project represents what Douglaston brings to New York City?
Having been raised in Brooklyn, I’m especially proud of the work we do there. We just finished AtlanticBK, a 450-unit mixed-income rental project west of Barclays Arena. This is a beautiful building that is changing the neighborhood and has helped spur a nearby rezoning that will encourage even more affordable, market-rate housing.
I am also very proud of the fact that we have always been innovative in housing. Renaissance Plaza was downtown Harlem’s first major mixed-use construction project in many years. It brought nearly 300 units of affordable housing and more than 60,000 square feet of top-of-the-line retail, sparking a renaissance that it later led to. In the post-9/11 world, we secured the 2,500-unit rezoning for The Edge, a mixed-use property that is transforming the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn into the incredible bedroom community it is today. All of this work helps create the wonderful fabric of New York City.
How do the Linden and Penn-Wortman Houses projects have special meaning for you?
“We have always been innovative in housing.”
—Jeffrey Levine, founding director and president of Douglaston Development
Yes, my family moved there after my father returned from military service. As part of the New York City Housing Authority’s Rental Assistance Demonstration/Permanent Together Affordability Commitment program, which uses private investment to fund major renovations while keeping homes permanently affordable, we had the opportunity to renovate the apartments I lived in as a child. This is high on my list of projects I’m proud of. I actually took my family there and met the gentleman who now lives in the apartment where I grew up.
How did you become a vertically integrated organization?
We started by doing general third party contracting, which was not very capital intensive at the time. As we continued and clients were satisfied with our work, I became a minority partner in many of the developers we worked for. Subsequently, I began applying for city and state subsidized and tax credit projects that I could develop on my own, using my own contracting capabilities. New York City’s 421 tax break incentives of the 1980s presented new opportunities to work with the private sector on mixed-income projects. By maintaining a balance of both affordable and market housing, we are well positioned to maintain our volume regardless of economic conditions. We focus on what is most fundable and beneficial at any given time.
How did your experience as a contractor help you become a homeowner?
I worked for contractors during the day while attending the City College of New York School of Architecture at night. That background served me well in getting into construction, which in turn served me well in getting into development. In affordable housing, the [profit] margins can be quite thin. Unless you can control the costs by doing it yourself [building] we work the way we do, it’s hard to be competitive, and as a developer, knowing all the nuances of construction helps create a profitable and valuable project. Lenders are more willing to work with you [because] they have more confidence in your ability to increase the return on your investment.
Are you challenged by the labor shortage?
One of the great attributes of New York City is that it is so large and the workforce is so established. It seems like construction of some sort is always going on, and the workforce is here to support it. In other cities with more cyclical economies, the workforce dissipates when there is no business. When business returns, no labor is available. The old saying that New York City never sleeps is true when it comes to the workforce.
