Staten Island's Farm Colony Is Going To Grow a Bumper Crop of Condos

Jan. 25, 2016 — Bank buildings are doing it. Synagogues are doing it. Now a former farm for the aged poor is doing it too: converting to condos.

Last week the New York City Council gave its blessing to a plan to turn a derelict 96-acre campus on Staten Island, known as the Farm Colony, into 344 condo apartments for residents over the age of 55. Thirty-four of the apartments will be set aside as affordable – that is, for families with incomes under about $150,000.

The council approved a plan by the city’s Economic Development Corp. to sell 45 acres to Raymond Masucci, a Staten Island developer, for $1 million. At a cost of $91 million, Masucci will rehabilitate five buildings, tear down five others, and preserve a 112-year-old dormitory as a “stable ruin.” He will also build three six-story apartment buildings and 14 townhouses on a property that was once a working farm for the aged poor.

The Farm Colony closed in 1975 and fell into decline. The new development, inside Staten Island’s first historic district, will be called Landmark Colony.