Summary: Mayor Eric Adams and BFC Partners celebrated the Coney Island Phase III groundbreaking, adding 420 affordable housing units to Surf Avenue. Backed by the Adams administration’s pro-housing policies, this project strengthens Coney Island with homes, jobs, and commercial spaces for a thriving future.
Transcript: Mayor Adams Delivers Remarks at Groundbreaking Ceremony for Coney Island Phase III
Donald Capoccia, Managing Principal, BFC Partners: Good morning. Thank you for being here at the groundbreaking of our project, we call it Coney III. Coney II is right behind us, completed about a year . Coney I is right over there, completed about three years .
My name is Don Capoccia, I’m Managing Principal of BFC Partners. I was just telling the leader that these two buildings that flank this site are occupied by probably well over 2,000 residents. This project, when it’s done, will probably bring another 1,500 residents to this community, so we have 3,500 residents over about 1,250 units.
It’s been a long-term effort, and we’re sorry there isn’t a Phase IV, although I don’t know if my friends in government want to take my phone calls on a Phase IV, I’m very happy that we’ve gotten this far. But this project brings us one step closer to completing our goals to transform this strip, this three-block strip of Surf Avenue across from the ballpark. I mean, it’s amazing, the views of these apartments are just incredible.
All these units are affordable. There’s been a very strong response from the community on the units and occupying the units. We’re especially proud of our work in Coney Island, where projects like this play a vital role in strengthening and stabilizing New York City’s neighborhoods, which is something we, BFC, has been at for now over 40 years. So, this is exactly the type of project that we love, and we’re very pleased to be groundbreaking today.
Of course, this couldn’t happen without literally almost everybody sitting in this audience. You know, the city’s housing agency, HPD, currently led by Ahmed Tigani, who was– he was a Don Capoccia fellow from Hunter College, right. That’s great. Well, thank you very much for being here, Ahmed. Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión, these gentlemen have been instrumental in getting us where we are today.
Along with our lenders, Goldman and Citi, my own partners and team at BFC, Win Wharton, Joe Ferrara, didn’t want to miss a beach day in Portugal, but Diane reminded me that this would have been a great beach day here in Coney Island. She’s right about that. And I think it’s really an honor for us to be what I think is the first project to break ground for Housing Week, which the city is celebrating for the entire week. As I understand it, probably over all five boroughs. So, it’s really, really special for us to be able to be here this morning with you.
It’s my honor to introduce Mayor Eric Adams, who has worked tirelessly in his commitments in addressing the New York City housing crisis, particularly the dire need for affordable housing options. His administration has focused on various initiatives aimed at increasing housing stock. Like City of Yes, this mayor has done an extraordinary job under the most difficult circumstances imaginable.
And, you know, besides housing, he’s closed down 1,400 illegal cannabis shops. He lobbied strongly in Albany to revise the Bail Reform Act, which allowed our streets to be a lot safer. Our city is a much, much better place today than it was when Mayor Adams took office.
The revitalization of Coney Island is a priority for the Adams administration, and we couldn’t be prouder that the BFC partners played a role in this. Thank you so much, Mayor Adams, and please come up and give us a few words.
Mayor Eric Adams: I really want to thank Don and his entire team, and really, you know you’re kicking off something special when you have the minority leader of Congress that’s here joining us, Congressman Jeffries. Thank you for being here, and all of our teams.
This is a full circle moment for me. I was a rookie cop here in Coney Island, so I know this area well, and I know this lot has been vacant for a long time, long before the stadium was built, long before really the development of our shorelines. This is probably one of our last beachfront communities that we can build on, and what Don has done, he did it in an affordable way.
That’s what Housing Week is about. It’s about looking at the properties that historically have remained vacant and empty. When I think of former Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., we talked about these lots. We used to have a mattress on them, and they were our recreational facilities and our gyms. This is where we hung out as children.
But, what Don and his team has done, what they have done all over the city of partnering with developers and having a pro-housing mindset. This administration, under our interim commissioner and our deputy mayor, we have broken records after records. More housing, when we’re done, shovels in the ground.
More housing in three years and seven months than 12 years of Bloomberg, eight years of de Blasio combined. What City of Yes is doing, developers are stopping us all the time, saying it’s unbelievable, the most comprehensive housing reform in the history of the city. We’re looking at every community. Every community board now is going to have housing built where our children won’t have to leave the city.
Then, when you add that on with what Deputy Mayor Carrión has done, when you add that on to more individuals leaving homeless shelters into permanent housing in individual years in the recorded history of the city, when you add that on to more people using the FHEPS voucher program in the history of the program, when you add that on, our city is safer, 22,000 illegal guns removed off our streets. People want to live in the city now, and we’re seeing the vibrancy that goes with the most jobs in the city’s history.
You have done so much under your portfolio, brother. The kid from public housing is now making it possible for everyone to have housing. New Yorkers deserve a home, and here in Coney Island, we’re making that happen. We’re surrounded by these beautiful projects that are here and affordable, affordable.
We’re not having low and middle income New Yorkers leave the city. Building housing and moving into housing should not be a rollercoaster. This should be a smooth, breezy day at the beach, and that’s what we’re saying. So, 1709 Surf Avenue is the third final phase of a new seaside community that will feature 420 new affordable housing homes for New Yorkers, and really working with BFC partners have made it a real win. We look at 1,100 new homes.
So what does that mean? That means occupying our schools. That means new retail spaces that are going to open. That means new families are going to grow and develop in this community. Housing is more than just four walls where people come inside. It is the precursor to sleep that allows you to experience the American dream, and that dream is coming alive here in Coney Island.
And you look at what Surf Avenue was and what it is now, and add to the $42 million that is going to go into the renovation of the Abe Stark Sports Center, and this is the kickoff, as Don stated, it’s the kickoff to Housing Week. We’re going to move all over the city and show the amazing projects that we have. Not only are we saying it, but even experts are saying it.
The most pro-housing administration in the history of this city, $5 billion going into even NYCHA, which was historically left off our housing plan for so many years. We’re turning that around, and so we’re moving towards this moonshot goal by 2032 of 500,000 new units of housing in our city, and we are truly on the road to accomplish that task.
As I stated, it started here in District 34. As a police officer riding the D train, the B train, the F train, the N train, all the trains that came out of here, riding them at night, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the morning, there’s a real energy that is coming back as I’m enjoying being here watching the full development of this location.
We can’t forget, I know I saw her earlier somewhere, Diane Savino, who was the state senator that was here many years, smart enough to sit in the shade, but she knows the project and she knows what we went through to develop this area.
Really excited about this, one of many projects in the city that we’re saying we’re not leaving any of our New Yorkers behind. Housing is a right and housing is an obligation for us all to accomplish. So again, thank you, Don and BFC and the entire team that made this happen. Thank you so much.
Capoccia: Hello, again. Look, let me also recognize Diane, who’s been a good friend of ours for many, many years. She was very helpful in bringing this about, along with the Councilmember Justin Brannan, sitting right over here. They advocated on our behalf throughout the city for quite some time. And we really appreciate that.
Thank you very much Mayor Adams. Now it’s my privilege to introduce the next speaker Democratic leader, minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. I looked this morning at my old notes, and the first time I met him he was an assemblyman with the New York State Assembly, and I think it was about 2008, Joe Chan, a friend of ours, said you’ve got to meet this guy. So Hakeem came into my office, do you remember that?
He was– the building had been built, he wanted to know why he was coming in now and not when we were planning the building. We had a, you know, he was a strong advocate, he’s a strong advocate for his community, still is, and we’ve been working together since that time and he’s been an amazing friend. He has accomplished a massive amount of benefit for us in New York as well as across the country.
The leader is consistently focused on preserving and creating affordable housing, investing in public housing, and tackling the racial wealth gap in home ownership. His attention to the challenges faced by his constituents, including soaring rent costs and struggle to find affordable housing has been unwavering.
We, I think we were together, along with Mayor Adams, at Bedford Union Armory, now called the Major Owens Community Center, an incredibly successful project, serving thousands in your community, and yours as well, Mayor Adams. So with all of this support, we can’t thank you gentlemen enough, and of course, Leader Jeffries, of course. So let me ask Congressman Jeffries to come up and say a few words.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. House of Representatives: Good morning, it’s a high honor and a distinct privilege to be here. Thank you, Don, for your leadership and steadfast commitment to ensuring that affordable homes are built for working class New Yorkers here in Coney Island, in Brooklyn, and all across the city of New York. It really has been a phenomenal commitment. Let me also thank Mayor Adams for the trailblazing plan and the implementation of it in terms of building affordable housing units all across the City of New York.
In the aftermath of what has been decades of housing displacement and gentrification. It’s a painful thing when you have folks in communities like Coney Island, and all across the borough of the City of New York, who were here during the difficult days of the heroin explosion or the crack cocaine epidemic, could have fled, but stayed around, invested in their communities, and helped to turn things around, and then find themselves in a situation where they are victims of their own success. Because they can no longer afford to live in the communities that they have made so attractive for everyone else.
Which is why this project, phase one, phase two, and phase three, and the commitment led by Mayor Adams, and the partnership with other colleagues in government, Justin and those who preceded him, like Mark Treyger, with Don Capoccia, BFC, and of course our partners in private industry, Goldman Sachs and Citi, is one that will transform lives here in the Coney Island community.
Mayor Adams mentioned that it was a full circle moment for him. Mayor Adams, of course, served this city with distinction as a member of the NYPD, and initially of course the Transit Department. It’s a full circle moment for me. One of my first high school dates was right across the street. Little bit of a different full circle moment. But this is an iconic community.
Coney Island has been known as having the world’s greatest playground. But, in representing the people of this incredible community, I know that Coney Island has the world’s greatest people, and deserves the very best. And that starts with housing. And that’s what phase one, phase two, and now phase three represent in such a transformational way.
We will continue to support the efforts of the Adams administration and our partners in the private sector through the low income housing tax credit and other federal investments that play a critical role in ensuring that the funding is necessary to bring projects like this to life all over the place.
Congratulations. I look forward to the ribbon cutting and seeing the faces of people who might otherwise have been at risk of being pushed out of Coney Island but, now, we’ll be right across the street from the world’s greatest playground, the Atlantic Ocean, and the people of this community who are the world’s greatest people certainly deserve it. Congratulations.
Eric Woodlin, Vice President, Community Engagement, BFC Partners: Good afternoon. Thank you for being here today. I appreciate your support. And I’m Eric Woodlin from BFC Partners. I’ve been at BFC Partners for 10 years, so I have the responsibility of putting these events together and it’s been a fun day today. Some of you know what I mean.
So I’d like to bring up to the podium, I’d like to bring up to the podium Mr. Adolfo Carrión, City Hall deputy mayor for Housing, Economic Development and [Workforce].
Deputy Mayor Adolfo Carrión, Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce: Thank you, Eric. Good morning, everybody. Eric said good afternoon. He’s racing through the day. I am delighted to be here. You know, you’ve heard Don and some others you will hear refer to the advocacy around this project and people trying to ensure that this project comes to a closing. I use a different kind of word. It’s advocacy on steroids. It’s persistence, it’s gnawing, it’s calling, it’s texting, it’s meeting, it’s all of these things to get here today.
Councilmember Brannan, chair of the Finance Committee, representative of this area in the City Council, would call me at least once a week, Don, but that’s because Don was calling Justin Brannan at least two or three times a week. And on and on that food chain goes. But here we are today.
I want to leave you with a brief thought because you’re going to hear from a number of people. One welcome to Housing Week, you’re going to hear a lot about what we’re doing across the five boroughs. I happen to have the pleasure and the honor and the privilege of serving as the deputy mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce Development and Capacity Building. I was commissioner of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development when I got those hundreds of calls about this project. So it is great, you have no idea how great it is to be here at phase three groundbreaking.
But I just want to leave you with a very brief thought. The best investment that we can make is a foundational one, which is to give people families, children, individuals, older adults, to give them a safe, sound, healthy place to live, where they can form their dreams, their aspirations, where they can sit around the table and think about the future and begin to fashion their journey. Without that platform, without the security of that place, life is very unstable. And it’s certainly very unstable in a big, tough city like this and in an economy like ours.
And you all know that we are facing the lowest vacancy rate that we have faced since 1968, 1.4 percent. So what did this administration do? We decided to move the needle, to make a mark, to show up for this moment in history and to make sure that future generations will look back and say, while they were stewards, they did something significant for our city, for our region, and for our country. And we’ve laid out a plan.
You heard about City of Yes, 80,000 units over a decade coming to New York City. Five neighborhood plans that will transform large neighborhoods around the city, including Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, that will generate another 50,000 units. The mayor and I are going to Flushing Airport, where we’re going to announce another 3,000 units of housing today for the future of that community.
And then, just in the four years of our tenure and our responsibility as leaders, you will see, because we’re going to talk about it later this week, over 100,000 units of affordable housing being literally built from holes in the ground like this to people moving into housing units, signing leases, and as the leader suggested, moving back into new housing in the neighborhoods that they shaped, formed, defended, supported. They stayed. They deserve this.
And so we are making these kinds of investments that at the end of the day, when we’re done, and you look at a 10 year, 12 year, 15 year horizon, we will achieve those half a million homes that the mayor envisioned at the start of the work of this administration. I just want to thank every partner, Citi, Goldman, BFC, the design team. Where’s the design team? The architects. Congratulations. Give them a round of applause.
These guys, you know, they work hard. In fact, the next announcement, they’re the designers also. And they’re designing this, the facade of Maimonides Park. I just learned that a few minutes . So thank you to the design team, to the hands that will build this place. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. Don, keep up the good work. You’re a superstar.
Woodlin: Thank you, deputy mayor. Next to the podium, we have Acting HPD Commissioner Ahmed Tigani.
Acting Commissioner Ahmed Tigani, Department of Housing Preservation and Development: Good morning, everyone. And while we’re on the topic of investment, because Don brought up the fact that he had been such a huge supporter of Hunter, I got to take a role as a planning fellow with a community board and start my career as a planner many years . Housing is an incredible investment.
The next investment after that, I would say, you can never go wrong with, is investing in a CUNY student. Whenever you invest in CUNY, you always come out top. So that’s not usually what we talk about in a housing investment, but it actually is important in the context of the kind of leaders and city government employees we’re trying to create for the future.
But, I would say that right now, I’m just glad to be here in Coney Island. It’s a historical and cultural landmark, a place where generations of families built a dynamic community as well known for its penchant to innovate and to push boundaries as it is for embracing family, its commitment to helping families create memories and build deep roots. This is why for over 140 years, visitors and admirers have described Coney Island as a haven for dreamers, a place where imagination knows no limits.
This groundbreaking and inspiring vision of the development partners who have poured so much care and dedication into this project resonates powerfully with that statement and respectfully reflects the history, the values, and the spirit that makes Coney Island so truly special. Though it’s already been said, I’m just going to invoke special privilege as commissioner to repeat some of the impressive things that are coming with this project.
Around 420 units right here in phase three, over 1,200 units overall across three phases, over $200 million in public subsidy well-deserved and properly planned just to make this happen, and hundreds of millions more, all a return on investment that makes the most sense for the City of New York. Something that’s not often mentioned is that for every dollar, every public dollar we put into our housing work, into our work in our communities, we actually generate $4.62 in private economic development.
We are helping people. We are creating jobs and creating a stronger New York along the way. This is coming with supportive housing at a time when this city needs so much more to support those who need supportive housing, and we’ve tackled that with our refit and expansion of the 1515 program, and partners like BFC is helping us move it forward.
This 12-story building is going to have 11,000 square feet of commercial space, 10,000 square feet of community space. That means jobs. That means visitors to Coney Island. It means an active streetscape in an area that does it better probably than anywhere else in the City of New York. And when you go beyond the top lines in a world that feels so unpredictable, HPD and all of our partners in government are committed to creating housing that is the opposite of that.
Housing that is reliable and secure, housing that is home, a home near multiple trains and buses, a home near enjoyable recreation, a home that opens the door to opportunity and stability like the deputy mayor mentioned. When we’re talking about this kind of stability that can change everything from how a child performs in their school to how an older New Yorker can plan for their golden years to how a single parent can manage the future for themselves and their family. That’s what today represents, and that’s the future we’re trying to build.
So happy Housing Week. I want to congratulate again all of the partners who’ve been in this from the development team to the finance partners to my incredible and far more brilliant colleagues at HPD and HDC who made this happen. We can’t do this without our city workers who work every day to push these projects forward. I once read that some refer to Coney Island as a place where anything is possible, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. Well thank you, all the partners of this project, for borrowing that magic and putting that in this project. Have a great rest of your day.
Woodlin: Okay, next to the podium we have Councilmember Justin Brannan.
City Councilmember Justin Brannan: All right, look, it’s hot, and the longer we talk, the less time— they need to start building here, so. I’m Councilman Brannan. I am proud to be the guy that people call when things are stuck and they need to get things unstuck. There were times when I was speaking to Ahmed and Adolfo and Melanie more than I was speaking to my own family. My wife would say, why are you talking to Melanie again? I said, she’s from BFC, babe, don’t worry.
But look, this is what it’s all about, right? Many hands, it takes many hands to make magic happen here. And I remember when, before I was elected to represent Coney Island, I was touring, I think this is two, right, behind me? And we were pointing down at this lot and saying, this is next, but it’s stuck and we need to get it done. So, we made it happen. This is a great day for Coney Island.
I always say that, you know, that people’s playground, it’s important that for three months a year, when the weather is nice, the entire world comes to Coney Island. But we also have to look after the people that live here the other nine months a year. And investments like this, the most important investment you can make, investing in our people, investing in a safe space for future generations, that’s what this is all about. So this is a great day. Let’s get out of here so they can start building this thing. Thank you.
Woodlin: Okay. Thank you, councilmember. Next to the podium from Goldman Sachs, we have Asahi Pompey. Thank you.
Asahi Pompey, Chair, Urban Investment Group, Goldman Sachs: Well, you’ll be glad to hear that I will definitely honor the golden rule of program speakers, be brilliant, be brief, and be gone. And so I will be very quick. I’m Asahi Pompei, I’ve worked at Goldman Sachs almost 20 years now, and I’m chair of the Urban Investment Group. It’s a group that for the last 25 years has been investing in affordable housing, a $20 billion portfolio.
We know that in order for Don and his team and the architects to do their work, investment dollars are needed, and that’s what Goldman Sachs is proud to bring to the table. Now, Leader Jeffries, Mayor Adams, Don, the team, all of our elected officials who are here, brick by brick, dollar by dollar, Goldman Sachs is investing in communities across New York City, and we’re very proud to be part of this development.
Now on a personal level, I went to high school just down the street. I went to John Dewey High School, I took the B train to Avenue X, and this was the place to be. And guess what? It’s still the place to be. And Goldman Sachs knows a good investment when we see it, and we’re excited to be part of this. Thank you very, very much.
Woodlin: Thank you, Asahi. Next to the podium, we have Chairman of Community Board 13, Jeff Sanoff.
Jeffrey Sanoff, Chair, Community Board 13: Good morning, everyone. It’s a pleasure being here today. The community, I represent Community Board 13. Community Board 13’s district covers about three miles, but in the last few years, several thousand new units of housing have been constructed, with more to come. The Community Board is doing its part to help with the housing crisis.
Phase III will fit right into place with Phase I and II, and provide badly needed, 100 percent affordable housing for our residents. These buildings will allow local residents to remain in their neighborhood where they were born and raised, as well as attract newcomers to this wonderful community. But, let us not forget the neighborhood needs more retail stores, additional support services for seniors, new schools, and a recreational center for our young people. These amenities will revitalize our community.
I get a lot of calls from different residents about the community center. We really, really need that. So let’s focus, after this is built, on getting the community center for Coney Island. We hope all these features will be included in the future, and we are looking forward to seeing our community grow and prosper. Thank you very much.
Woodlin: So, thank you so much for coming out. This concludes the ceremony. We have fruit, water, and some danishes in the back to finish. And we will see you at the ribbon cutting in maybe June 2027. Thank you so much.
July 28, 2025 New York
Sources: NYC.gov , Big New York News BigNY.com
