Adams Picks Artimus, Phoenix Realty to Develop 500 Homes on Staten Island

New York Mayor Eric Adams has chosen two developers to build housing along the New Stapleton Waterfront on the North Shore of Staten Island, according to a Monday announcement.

Adams and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) picked Artimus and Phoenix Realty Group to build more than 500 mixed-income housing units — a quarter of which will be affordable housing — on two vacant parcels of land at the corner of Front and Canal streets, the announcement said.

The news comes as part of Adams’s larger Staten Island North Shore Action Plan, in which the city will transform a 35-acre stretch of land formerly home to a U.S. naval base into a new mixed-use community along the waterfront. The project is expected to produce more than 20 acres of public open space, over 7,500 jobs and about 2,400 new housing units.

Part of a $400 million planned investment by the city, the project was announced in September 2023 and stretches between the St. George Ferry Terminal and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Artimus and Phoenix Realty’s 500-unit housing development, which will use sustainable construction materials, will be “the largest mass timber residential project in New York City” and one of the largest projects of its kind in the “entire country,” according to the release.

“We at Phoenix Realty Group, in conjunction with our partners at Artimus, are grateful and honored to be selected to develop the Stapleton site,” Ron Orgel, managing director at Phoenix Realty, said in a statement. “We are excited to both be a part of activating Staten Island’s North Shore and implementing the innovative mass timber design, and we look forward to a successful partnership with EDC.”

The two developers are set to begin construction on the new housing in 2027, the announcement said.

The news comes after Adams broke ground on the 12-acre New Stapleton Waterfront Esplanade in September, which included demolishing old U.S. Navy homeport buildings on the site, according to a release at the time.

In addition to more affordable housing, Adams’s North Shore Action Plan is due to include a 600-seat public school and several community facilities along the waterfront, Adams said.

“We have to build more,” Adams said during a press conference Monday. “We have an inventory issue, not a desire issue. And, by bringing more affordable housing to this neighborhood, we’re making sure we have the backs of Staten Islanders and those who want to live here.”

Artimus and Phoenix Realty’s design team will also participate in the NYC Mass Timber Studio program, which supports the “successful delivery of mass timber projects with technical and regulatory assistance,” according to the announcement.

“By developing over 500 new mixed-income housing units and expanding public green spaces, we are not only addressing New York City’s housing crisis and advancing promises made in the North Shore Action Plan, but we are also creating a more resilient and sustainable built environment through the use of low-carbon building materials like mass timber,” NYCEDC President and CEO Andrew Kimball said in a statement.

This isn’t Adams’s first pitch for New York City housing in recent weeks, especially after saying last month that his administration would spend $24.7 billion for housing over the next 10 years.

In February, Adams pitched big plans for Coney Island, Brooklyn, including 1,500 new homes, a renovation of the Riegelmann Boardwalk, a $42 million renovation of the Abe Stark Sports Center and improvements to the neighborhood’s streets and sewers, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

And, just last week, Adams proposed building an 840-foot-tall residential building at 395 Flatbush Avenue Extension with more than 1,200 new housing units, CO reported. That project would be led by a development team of Rabina and the Park Tower Group.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.