Mitchell-Lama housing cooperative, Brooklyn, New York
Kings Bay Houses
540 apartments in four eight-story brick buildings on Batchelder Street and Avenue Z, owned by the families who live in them.
Kings Bay Houses opened in 1958 on a 221,280 square foot site, about five acres, in Sheepshead Bay. It is a Mitchell-Lama limited-profit cooperative: residents hold shares and a proprietary lease rather than a tenancy, the monthly carrying charge covers building operations and the mortgage instead of a landlord’s profit, and a Board of Directors elected by the shareholders sets policy. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development supervises the co-op.
- Apartments
- 540
- Buildings
- 4Eight stories, brick
- Opened
- 1958
- Site
- 221,280Square feet, about five acres
Management office
- Telephone
- (718) 646-9080
- Address
- 2520 Batchelder Street, Basement
Brooklyn, NY 11235 - Agent
- Metro Management Development, Inc.
- Supervision
- New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
No email address and no office hours are published. Please telephone before coming by.
| Address | Notes |
|---|---|
| 2520 Batchelder Street | Management office, basement level |
| 2540 Batchelder Street | Residential |
| 2560 Batchelder Street | Residential |
| 2965 Avenue Z | Residential, facing Avenue Z |
The Batchelder Street frontage.
Photo of Batchelder Street by GK tramrunner RU, cropped and resized, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
The cooperative
How Kings Bay Houses is owned and run
Mitchell-Lama is a New York State program, created in 1955, that financed limited-profit housing for middle-income families. Kings Bay Housing Co., Inc. was incorporated on 13 May 1957 and the buildings opened the following year. The co-op has been in the program ever since.
A household here is not a tenancy. Each family buys shares in the corporation and receives a proprietary lease for a specific apartment. The monthly carrying charge pays for staff, heat, water, insurance, repairs, reserves and the mortgage, and there is no landlord drawing a profit out of the buildings. Shareholders elect the Board of Directors, the Board sets policy and engages the managing agent, and the City of New York, through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, supervises the co-op under the Mitchell-Lama rules.
- Shareholder, not tenant
- Ownership of shares in Kings Bay Housing Co., Inc. plus a proprietary lease for one apartment.
- Carrying charges
- The monthly charge covers operations, reserves and the mortgage. It is not rent to a landlord.
- Board of Directors
- Elected by the shareholders. It sets policy and engages the managing agent.
- Managing agent
- Metro Management Development, Inc., with the office on site at 2520 Batchelder Street.
- Supervision
- New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
The property
The buildings and the site
Four buildings of the same 1958 design: eight stories of brick, practical layouts and elevator service throughout. Three of them stand on Batchelder Street and the fourth faces Avenue Z.
| Apartments | 540 |
|---|---|
| Buildings | Four, eight stories each |
| Construction | Brick, with elevator service throughout |
| Opened | 1958 |
| Site area | 221,280 square feet, about five acres |
| Addresses | 2520, 2540 and 2560 Batchelder Street; 2965 Avenue Z, Brooklyn, NY 11235 |
| Corporation | Kings Bay Housing Co., Inc., incorporated 13 May 1957 |
| Program | Mitchell-Lama limited-profit housing |
| Governance | Board of Directors elected by the shareholders |
| Managing agent | Metro Management Development, Inc. |
| Supervision | New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development |
Not to be confused with Section II. Kings Bay Houses Section II is a separate cooperative with its own board and its own management office. This site covers Section I only.
The neighborhood
Sheepshead Bay
Southern Brooklyn, a few blocks inland of the bay itself: well served by transit, close to the water, and long settled.
- Bus
- B36 on Avenue Z; B44 and B44 SBS on Nostrand Avenue; B49 on Ocean Avenue; BM3 express to Manhattan on Batchelder Street
- Driving
- Belt Parkway to the Knapp Street exit, then north to Avenue Z
- Schools
- J.H.S. 14 Shell Bank next door at 2424 Batchelder Street; P.S. 206 Joseph F. Lamb at 2200 Gravesend Neck Road
- Parks
- Marine Park, about 800 acres, including the 530-acre Forever Wild nature preserve inside it
- Waterfront
- The Emmons Avenue piers and the Sheepshead Bay promenade
- Shopping
- Avenue Z and Sheepshead Bay Road; Kings Plaza a short drive away
- Also nearby
- Libraries, houses of worship nearby, Manhattan Beach and Brighton Beach
The head of Sheepshead Bay, seen from the footbridge.
Photo of Sheepshead Bay by Jim.henderson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Questions go to the on-site office
Repairs, carrying charges and shareholder paperwork are handled at 2520 Batchelder Street, Basement. There is no published email address, so the telephone is the way in.