Some sites carry history in their soil. For the community surrounding Myrtle Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a city-owned lot at 913 Kent Avenue has been the subject of more than two decades of organizing, advocacy, and quiet hope. This December, that hope took a significant step forward.
IMPACCT Brooklyn has been designated by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to develop approximately 100 units of affordable and supportive housing at 913 Kent Avenue — right alongside the beloved Myrtle Village Green community garden that IMPACCT Brooklyn has helped steward for over a decade.
A Site With a Story
The land at 913 Kent Avenue is not just an empty lot. It sits adjacent to Myrtle Village Green, a community garden born of more than a decade of grassroots organizing by Bed-Stuy residents passionate about green space. In 2012, with the support of then-City Council Member Letitia James, the Department of Environmental Protection, and IMPACCT Brooklyn, Myrtle Village Green began operation as a volunteer-run garden and community gathering space. Today it is an official NYC Parks GreenThumb community garden — and a living symbol of what organized communities can build when they refuse to let a vacant lot stay vacant.
IMPACCT Brooklyn’s designation to develop the adjacent site is not a coincidence. It is the natural extension of a relationship with this land, and with this neighborhood, that has been growing for years.
What’s Coming
The development will deliver approximately 100 units of 100 percent affordable, rent-stabilized housing, benefitting from zoning changes codified through the City of Yes, and reforms established by Mayor Mamdani’s SPEED taskforce. Sixty percent of the units will be supportive housing, serving residents who need both a stable home and access to on-site services. The ground floor will include non-residential space for potential community amenities, keeping the development connected to the neighborhood fabric it will call home.
Critically, the project will preserve approximately 20,000 square feet of green space, ensuring that Myrtle Village Green — and the community that built it — remains intact. The development will be designed by architect ESKW and represents the second project designated under HPD’s restructured Supportive Housing RFQ, a program designed to accelerate affordable development on city-owned land.
Why This Matters
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighborhood under pressure. As rents rise and longtime residents face displacement, every unit of affordable housing is a declaration that this community still has room for the people who built it. One hundred units of permanently affordable, rent-stabilized housing — paired with supportive services for those who need them most — is not just a real estate project. It is a statement of values.
For IMPACCT Brooklyn, 913 Kent Avenue represents something deeply personal. This is a neighborhood where we have organized tenants, preserved affordable homes, and tended a community garden. Now we have the opportunity to build something new — while honoring everything that came before.
The financing, land use approvals, and construction phases lie ahead. But the designation is in hand, the vision is clear, and the community that made Myrtle Village Green possible is still here, still rooted, and still rising.
To learn more about IMPACCT Brooklyn’s housing development work, contact us at info@impacctbk.org.