By Anna Bradley-Smith
The two-story industrial building at 161 Jamaica Avenue has had many uses over its 120-plus-year history. It housed a wagon painting business, a radio coil manufacturer, and a shirt making factory. It’s been the headquarters for The American Appliances and Machinery Manufacturing Co. and a place where industrial doors were made. Most recently, cabinets were built downstairs while birthday, graduation, and other parties happened upstairs.
Now, with major changes under way in the surrounding East New York area, the warehouse will get new life as a community center and small business hub. If all goes to plan, it will be owned by the East New York Community Land Trust and managed and run for the benefit of the community.
The land trust is in contract to purchase the building for $2.3 million from a developer who bought it three years ago for $1.3 million. It’s a good price for the location, ENYCLT president Boris Santos said.
Santos and the team would know: They’ve been searching for a building like this and running the numbers on real estate prices in the neighborhood. Now, he said, the team is “planting our flag.”
“It gives us the ability to say, while all these changes are coming, we’re here and we’re here to fight for the community. You can come in, our doors are open, and we’re here to fight back on speculative interests.” The intention, he said, is for the land trust to remove the property from the private market for the community’s benefit, and prevent it from being flipped or sold to a private owner or developer.
The J train is a few blocks away at Fulton Street, a stretch of East New York where huge developments have replaced longstanding mixed-used buildings following the neighborhood’s controversial rezoning in 2016. Both Broadway Junction (slated for major changes in coming years) and Highland Park are nearby.
ENYCLT made a down payment on the 9,500-square-foot warehouse, which the land trust is calling the East Brooklyn Liberation Center. The group is still fundraising and seeking no- and low-interest loans with hopes of raising $2.6 million to include closing costs and immediate repairs. The closing is set for early June.
So far, the group has raised over $722,000 with the goal of collecting $800,000. Local nonprofit lenders including the New Economy Loan Fund, a subsidiary of New Economy Project, and Working World, along with individual lenders, are providing no- and low-interest loans. Funds are being collected in the land trust’s Brooklyn Co-op account.
“There are several reasons why this is important for us, important for the community overall,” Santos said. “The first part is that there’s such a lack of community space, communal gathering space, event spaces where East New Yorkers can come together and civically engage and civically partake and organize. Where you see a lack of spaces like this, you see a lack of people power being built to demand things of the state.”
That’s where the name for the new center comes from. “We will be able to seek liberation for our people to choose self determination” through communal gathering space, he said. “People can gather and organize, and also become politically engaged, aware, that’s the most important part.”
The philosophy of shared ownership and circulator economies is central to the planned center. The office spaces will feature worker co-ops with affordable rents set at sliding scales, job training opportunities, and a focus on local employment.
The two-story building will be designed with flexible spaces to foster different uses — potentially meetings, trainings, events, homeowner support, and ICE defense. The preliminary plan is for office and possibly industrial space downstairs, including a permanent base for ENYCLT, with flex event and meeting space upstairs.
Groups including Preserving East New York (PENY), which aims to protect the cultural and historic heritage of East New York, and East Brooklyn Archives have signaled interest in taking residence in the building, as have other small businesses.
PENY founder Zulmilena Then said she believes that having space in the center is a “natural step” for the organization. “This presence will not only support the organization’s growth but also create a collaborative workspace with the East New York Community Land Trust and other like-minded groups, fostering a strong sense of community,” she added.
Then, who hosts walking tours, workshops, and other events on the history of East New York, said the acquisition of the building “is a beacon of hope for the community,” offering a chance to build a creative and innovative hub for small businesses and organizations that struggle to find gathering spaces.
“The restoration of this industrial building into the East Brooklyn Liberation Center promises to create a dynamic hub where organizations and community members can thrive, innovate, and collaborate, making it the perfect home for Preserving East New York,” she said.
The brick commercial building, whose stamped tin cornice is adorned with swags, dates from about 1900, old maps show. Previously, a frame building stood on the lot. A circa 1940s tax photo reveals it had big second-story windows for illumination over a storefront at ground level. The building is currently classed as offices, according to city records.
The warehouse at 161 Jamaica Avenue will be the second building owned by ENYCLT. In 2024, the land trust purchased 248 Arlington Avenue in conjunction with longtime tenants. The plan is to renovate the building and turn it into a limited equity co-op so the tenants can become homeowners. ENYCLT, founded in 2020, was the first land trust in the city to buy a multifamily building from a private owner, a big move in the land trust movement.
Over the past few years, the number of land trusts in New York City skyrocketed. They work in coalition through the NYC Community Land Initiative. Typically structured as community-governed nonprofits, land trusts acquire property to create and preserve long-term affordable housing and other community spaces.
In some cases, the trust retains ownership of the land while residents own or rent the homes or buildings built on it through long-term ground leases. The model is designed to keep housing affordable over time by limiting resale prices and removing land from the speculative real estate market.
ENYCLT found political support at both the city and state level. Senator Julia Salazar, who represents the area, pledged $1 million towards the acquisition of 161 Jamaica Avenue. She also supported the purchase of 248 Arlington Avenue.
Santos said the group was trying to leverage funds from the city council and borough president’s office, as well as through the state senators and Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez ahead of her retirement. At the same time, Governor Kathy Hochul also pledged funding for community land trusts across the city in an effort to preserve affordable housing. Community land trusts in general have seen increasing city support over the past decade.
Given that government funds can be slow to arrive, ENYCLT will rely on private donations and loans to cover upfront costs. They would use public funding to pay off loans and subsidize rents.
One low-interest loan is from New Economy Project, a 30-year-old organization that aims to build a sustainable, cooperative economy in New York City. Seed Commons, the national cooperative lender and CDFI, is also providing a loan.
New Economy Project backs public banking, community wealth building initiatives, and land trusts. It also cofounded and coordinates the NYC Community Land Initiative. The organization lent $200,000 to ENYCLT for the acquisition of 248 Arlington Avenue.
Executive director Deyanira Del Rio said the organization is proud to support ENYCLT’s project converting the Jamaica Avenue warehouse into the East Brooklyn Liberation Center.
“East New York CLT is a powerful example of how local CLTs are successfully bringing land, housing, and decision-making about development into community control — meeting critical community needs and serving as a bulwark against real estate speculation and displacement,” she said.
Once the sale closes, the first move will be to clean the space and start making plans for the larger renovation. While that’s under way, ENYCLT will do immediate repairs. The group plans to move into the building and use it in any way it can during renovations.
Santos estimated it will take around two years to finish the project and open the doors on a completed East Brooklyn Liberation Center.