Tredway Makes Affordable Housing Play in Coney Island

New housing opportunities are making a splash in Coney Island.

Affordable housing developer Tredway shelled out $150 million to buy the Sea Park Apartments at 2930 West 30th Street from the Arker Companies, acquiring 387,000 square feet just steps away from the boardwalk.

The group expects to invest around $25 million on the complex, which spans three buildings: Sea Park North, Sea Park East and Sea Park West. The money will go towards upgrades such as improving common spaces and modernizing the 50-year-old building’s energy efficiency, according to a press release.

Prior to the acquisition, not all of the apartments were designated as affordable housing, but Tredway plans to change that.

“[Its] 816 units are going to be reserved as affordable for the next 60 years,” said Will Blodgett, Tredway’s founder and CEO.

Tenants will keep their housing, but new rules apply for future applications. Nearly 600 apartments will be reserved for households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. Around 150 will go to those at 50 percent of AMI and just under 75 for households earning up to 80 percent of AMI.

The rest of the units, besides three superintendent’s units, will be reserved for homeless New Yorkers.

“Given the affordable housing crisis that our city and the country is facing — and I believe that homelessness is a lack of affordable housing problem — 90 of the homes are going to be reserved for formerly homeless residents,” Blodgett added.

In the northern section of the property, Tredway plans to develop an apartment building for seniors above an existing parking lot.

That project, developed with Gilbane Development Company and ELH Mgmt, will bring 250 units of senior affordable housing to a neighborhood where one in five residents is above the age of 65, according to census data. Ariel Property Advisors represented Arker in the deal.

The massive project is a feather in the cap for the burgeoning developer, which was founded in 2021 as Blodgett separated from an affordable housing giant he co-founded, Fairstead, in a fiery divorce.

Since then, the two companies have filed several lawsuits and countersuits against one another.

Fairstead claimed Blodgett developed a “copycat” built on stolen information and drove up bidding on a billion-dollar affordable housing portfolio, which the former ultimately won, just weeks after Blodgett left the company.

Meanwhile, Blodgett has accused Fairstead of failing to pay out his equity, effectively stealing tens of millions of dollars from him after the co-founder negotiated his departure.

Both sides have denied the others’ allegations.