Spofford Redevelopment Project

Restoring Hope

Built in 1957, for over 50 years the Spofford Juvenile Detention Center sat at the center of the Hunts Point community, disconnected from many of the positive changes in the surrounding neighborhood. The center was permanently shut down in 2011, and in 2014 NYCEDC, together with local leaders spearheaded the effort to redevelop the site to serve community needs and reintegrate the site into the fabric of the peninsula —turning this site into a symbol of hope. Through its redevelopment, the Hunts Point community will have a place to realize their greatest aspirations – an affordable home for families, good paying jobs focused on food and light manufacturing, and a beautiful new courtyard for children and families to play and gather.

The Peninsula: Community Vision

Beginning in December 2014, NYCEDC performed extensive outreach with local elected officials, key local stakeholders, and local residents to discuss the priorities for the site. From these conversations, stakeholders were able to inform the subsequent RFEI released by NYCEDC and HPD in June 2015. Thanks to the collaboration between the community and the City, the redevelopment of the site will bring many important resources to the local community and help meet long-standing community needs.

Replacing the center will be The Peninsula—a five building, five-acre mixed-use campus delivered across three phases. When complete, The Peninsula will feature:

• Nearly 740 units of 100 percent affordable housing, with units ranging from studios to family-size three bedrooms
• Recreational and community facilities, including artist studios and a wellness-center
• Commercial space, including a supermarket and a kitchen incubator
• Open space, including nearly one acre for a public plaza
• Additionally, a portion of the site will also be preserved for early education programming that has served the community for more than four decades.

Project Summary

The Peninsula, a joint proposal by Gilbane Development Company, the Hudson Companies, and Mutual Housing Association of New York (MHANY), was selected and announced in October 2016. Community sponsors on the development team also include Urban Health Plan and The Point CDC. A vibrant live/work campus and the first-of-its-kind industrial-commercial-residential project, The Peninsula will begin its transformation in summer 2019. The project forges a new model in neighborhood development by embedding quality manufacturing jobs, health and wellness resources, and open space recreation into a new residential development.

In November 2021, City officials and community members gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony inside the Peninsula 1A, a 56,000-square-foot state-of-the-art space designed to support local entrepreneurs. Tenants will include bakers, coffee roasters, caterers, pastry operations, beverage manufacturers, prepared foods producers, retail CPG food brands, and more. The space will be built out to support tenants’ specific needs.

The project's first residential building (phase 1B) opened in June 2022, including 183 deeply affordable homes and a cultural arts center with studio space for emerging artists.

Throughout is development, The Peninsula will support approximately 1,000 construction jobs and create more than 300 permanent jobs throughout its development and operation. The development team has committed to hiring 35 percent M/W/DBE (minority, women-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprise) firms for the construction and will participate in HireNYC, a program that connects residents and workers to the City's workforce development services.

Phasing Plan

Development of The Peninsula will occur in three phases, with the completion of phase I by 2022. The schedule for Phase I is as follows:

• Phase IA complete Q4 2021
• Phase IB complete 2022