Schaefer Landing, which occupies the former waterfront site in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, of the F & M Schaefer Brewery, is a residential development of Kent Waterfront Associates, a joint venture of BFC Partners, L&M Equity Participants and Allstate Realty Associates.

It two buildings contain a total of 350 apartments, 40 percent of which are "affordable." The tenants for the low-income "affordable units were chosen by lottery with at least half being rented to existing residents of Williamsburg earning less than 60% of the census district's median income, which works out to about $37,000 annually for a family of four.

The buildings, located at 440 and 446 Kent Avenue, are distinguished by their pale-blue glass facades that surround center sections of beige panels.

Karl Fischer was the architect.

"Thought to be the largest project in the country that combines low-income rentals with high-end condos, Schaefer Landing offers 140 'affordable' rental units in one building and 210 luxury units for sale in two adjacent towers, one 15 stories, the other 25 stories," Julia Vitullo-Martin wrote in a December 15, 2005 article in The New York Sun shortly before the project was scheduled to open.

"Outside praise for the project is almost unanimous. In October Mayor Bloomberg called it 'the key to a greater New York,'" she wrote, adding that Amanda Burden, the chairwoman of the City Planning Commission, described the project as "thrilling"

and Assemblyman Vito Lopez said it was an "outstanding example" of private-public collaboration.

"Indeed, the public contribution to the private-public collaboration has been significant," she continued.

"The site landed in city government hands after being abandoned in 1976. Years of failed proposals followed, including an attempt by Mayor Koch's administration to build an enormous incinerator to burn garbage, which was opposed by both residents and environmentalists. A development lawyer, Ken Fisher, who represented several Brooklyn neighborhoods in the City Council during the 1990s, said once the idea of the incinerator was eliminated, neighborhood leaders started looking at the site for housing. 'The Giuliani administration was receptive and committed upwards of $8 million to environmental remediation,' he recalls. 'The site had been a brownfields, a derelict industrial area that had to be cleaned up. In effect, the city agreed to front the money to make the site buildable.'"

She noted that Shaun Donovan, then the city's commissioner of housing, preservation and development, had observed that "We had every kind of subsidy helping that property. Without the government clean-up, Schaefer Landing couldn't have gone forward. And without the deep subsidies, we couldn't have provided 40% affordable housing."

"The Giuliani administration," she continued, "signed the papers with developer Kent Waterfront Associates on its last day in office, December 31, 2001. Kent paid $9 million, or about 60% of the site's market value, in exchange for the promise to reserve a large number of apartments for low-income rentals - long one of the most contentious subjects in Brooklyn."

Don Capoccia was the managing principal for the project and he bought the front penthouse in the larger, north building and he told Ms. Vitullo-Martin, "gesturing toward the recently rezoned area that starts at the northern border of the site," that "You're going to see residential and some good retail all up the waterfront," adding that "In 10 years, it won't look anything like what it looks like now."

Indeed, the rezoning spurred significant new development and neighbors for Schaefer Landing such as such large projects like the Edge and Northside Piers.

Resident amenities at Schaefer Landing include lounges, a library, a fitness center, a business center, a children s playroom, a common roof deck, a private landscaped courtyard, and on-site underground parking. All the rental units were leased within three months of offering and 90 percent of the condominiums were sold within two years. Completed in July 2006, Schaefer Landing has created a market for housing in an area where none had existed.

Approximately 80 percent of Schaefer Landing's units offer views of the East River or the Manhattan skyline. Residents and community members also enjoy a public riverfront esplanade landscaped to complement the project's private courtyard, which overlooks the esplanade and offers unparalleled views of Manhattan.

A significant challenge in developing the site was the lack of convenient access to public transit. The closest subway station is a 15-minute walk away and bus service is infrequent. Kent Waterford Associates negotiated an agreement with New York Water Taxi that called for the developer to subsidize the first year of the taxi's operations from Schaefer Landing, making Schaefer Landing the first primarily residential building in New York to offer water taxi service. Using this mode, residents can reach the foot of Wall Street in seven minutes.

Architect Gene Kaufman also worked on Schaefer Landing, which is just to the north of the site of another major planned project, Rose Plaza, which would have 754 apartments in three towers of 18, 24 and 28 stories.