CROWN HEIGHTS

Shed in in Crown Heights is in disrepair, just like the building behind it. 

Strict construction standards eliminate fossil fuels and slash energy bills.

Streamlined process has eliminated project delays and approval backlogs.

Developer calls controversial project's foes "limousine liberal elitists."

Petition drive seeks to kill zoning change favored by developers.

Community Share Program cuts bills for common areas and apartments.

Even without luxury condos, opponents deride project’s gentrification.

Crown Heights activists fight city plan for Bedford Union Armory.

In the early 1980s, the 16-unit co-op at 572 Sterling Place in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn was an abandoned, derelict shell. Catholic Charities and the parish of St. Theresa of Avila helped secure it a $440,000, 30-year mortgage, and property was incorporated as a co-op under the city's Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC). Each unit was valued at just $27,500, and shareholders agreed to contribute sweat equity for 10 percent of that sum, including demolition work and installing flooring, trim, and cabinets.

It was a building designed to be affordable to low- and middle-income New Yorkers. But now some shareholders, delighted by the low price when they bought, are seeing things differently as they go to sell — warping the very affordability the HDFC program fosters.

The board at 572 Sterling Place deals with challenges every day, but its members know how to face them. The key, they say, is that instead of picking up the phone and calling a manager when problems and challenges arise, they're willing to roll up their sleeves and take on the task themselves. Or, as board vice president Ralph Pinero puts it: "Nowadays, if you want a place to live that's decent and affordable, you're going to have to get your hands dirty."