A much-anticipated LGBTQ-friendly affordable housing residence for seniors officially opened its doors in Fort Greene on December 17 following a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Advocacy & Services for LGBT Elders (SAGE), city officials, residents of the building, and others.
The building at 112 St. Edwards Street, which was initially labeled as Ingersoll Senior Residences but has since been branded as Stonewall House, is 17 stories and boasts 145 apartments, making it the largest queer-friendly senior housing development in the nation. It is also the first such building in the state.
The building, which occupies land on which NYCHA’s Ingersoll Houses also stand, is across Myrtle Avenue from Fort Greene Park.
Stonewall House will be home to residents over the age of 62 whose income is 60 percent or less than the area median income. There are 54 studios and 91 one-bedroom apartments, and 25 percent of the units are for formerly homeless seniors. SAGE, which completed the project in collaboration with developer BFC Partners, will also have its own community center within the building.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that LGBT elders in New York City have been working for 50 years for a place they can truly call home — since they stood up and said ‘No more’ back at Stonewall in 1969,” SAGE’s CEO, Michael Adams, said in a written statement. “Thankfully, they’ve now found that home at Stonewall House, and we at SAGE could not be more thrilled.”
Others on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony included Eric L. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, Matthew McMorrow, a senior aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio, and John Blasco, an out gay district leader in Manhattan who serves as Speaker Corey Johnson’s LGBTQ liaison.
Diedra Nottingham, a resident of the building, described Stonewall Houses as a “dream come true.”
“I am so excited to move into this building and be part of a community that is LGBT-friendly,” she said. “I was born and bred in Brooklyn and coming back to the area is like coming home.”
SAGE’s other local LGBTQ-friendly affordable housing residence, Crotona Senior Residences, is nearing completion in the East Tremont section of the Bronx. That residence is expected to open in early 2020.
