Famed Marble Hill affordable housing complex gets long-awaited makeover
![A rendering of the deck will have cabanas](https://nelsonmanagementgroup.net/content/uploads/abb-thepromenade3a-1.jpg)
by: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
posted: Tuesday, July 21, 2015
It’s a Marble Hill makeover.
Investors who bought a crumbling affordable housing complex in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood two years ago have finally unveiled a new look for the formerly troubled tower.
Nelson Management, which acquired the area’s tallest tower, at 150 W. 225th St., in 2013, said it’s already started $14 million in extensive renovations on the property, upgrading lobbies and hallways, installing a new outdoor deck with cabanas overlooking the water, putting in new elevators and gas boilers, creating an outdoor recreation area, opening a gym and hiring a 24-hour doorman.
The 318-unit complex, which was formerly part of the Mitchell Lama program, a program established in 1955 as an incentive to develop affordable rental and cooperative housing to moderate- and middle-income families in New York State, has now been removed from the program.
![A couple walks at night along a path in the city](https://nelsonmanagementgroup.net/content/uploads/abb-thepromenade5b.jpg)
But Nelson said existing tenants are still protected by rent stabilization and will benefit from Mayor Bill De Blasio’s rent freeze. The few available market-rate units have been upgraded with hardwood floors and stainless-steel appliances.
The property had long been considered a dead-end option for tenants who couldn’t afford better. Residents complained of elevators that didn’t work for weeks at a time and faulty water and heating systems.
“After 42 years of being in a subsidy program, sometimes owners of these apartment buildings don’t really go out in terms of bells and whistles,” Nelson principal Robert Nelson told the Daily News. “ You’re limited in terms of your ability from an economic standpoint. Now that it’s out of the program, we’re going in and putting a lot of money into some nice renovations.”
![A rendering of an apartment complex in the Bronx](https://nelsonmanagementgroup.net/content/uploads/abb-thepromenade2d.0.jpg)
What’s in it for Nelson and his partner, L+M Development Partners?
Once tenants finally move out, they can convert the units to market-rate rents, Nelson said.