Affordable housing lottery open for new Bay Shore rental complex

Apartment hunters in Bay Shore can apply to be considered for one of five new rental units available through a lottery offering below-market prices.

Applications for the five affordable units in the Chelsea Commons, at 227 Fourth Ave., are open through March 9. The building has 22 apartments, 17 of which are market-rate.

The three-story development is near the Bay Shore stop on the Long Island Rail Road, just north of Main Street. It was built by developers 227 4th Avenue Partners LLC and 227 4th Ave. Bay Shore LLC.

“Being right in town, it’s very well located,” said Sam Glass, the managing member of 227 4th Ave. Bay Shore LLC, based in Bellerose in Nassau County. “If they work in the city, the train is right there.”

The lottery comes amid high demand for housing in Suffolk County and a limited number of affordable rentals, said Jill Rosen-Nikoloff, senior vice president and general counsel of the Long Island Housing Partnership, which administers the lottery.

“All of Suffolk County needs additional affordable housing, particularly for people at lower income levels,” Rosen-Nikoloff said. “We have waitlists of people who need housing.”

The three studio apartments at the Chelsea Commons are priced at $2,160 per month and the two one-bedroom units at $2,446 per month.

Households earning up to 80% of the area median income will meet the lottery's income requirements. For example, a two-person household renting a studio could earn between $69,270 and $105,550, and a couple renting a one-bedroom could earn between $79,170 and $105,550, according to the program guidelines.

The 17 market-rate apartments at the complex will rent for roughly between $2,400 to $2,900 per month, Glass added.

About 89 households have applied to the five affordable apartments as of Wednesday, Rosen-Nikoloff said.

That demand is nothing new. In 2023, nearly 1,300 people applied for just 84 apartments at the Shoregate, a rental complex in downtown Bay Shore, Newsday reported.

Elsewhere on Long Island, Rosen-Nikoloff said 106 households applied for a chance to buy one of 16 condos in Yaphank offered through a lottery in January.

The developers spent roughly $6 million to build the apartment complex, previously home to a two-story building occupied by a restaurant, Glass said.

The developers also secured tax relief through 2035 from the Town of Islip Industrial Development Agency for the project in 2021, plus sales and mortgage recording tax exemptions, according to an IDA resolution and the IDA’s 2024 annual report.

“Because of the cost of building, you need an IDA” incentive, Glass said.