Caton Flats, situated on the corner of Caton and Flatbush Avenues, is a mixed-use development offering 255 new units of much needed affordable housing (studio, one-, two- and three-bedrooms), attended parking, office space for a local community organization, retail, and the redeveloped and expanded Flatbush Central Caribbean Marketplace. The market, a neighborhood institution, provides spaces for vendors selling a variety of goods that celebrate and support the area’s Caribbean-American culture. Additionally, a shared commercial kitchen and design studio will focus on opportunities for BIPOC entrepreneurs, helping them grow skills and test creative ideas in the food, design, craft, and body care product industries.

An attended residential lobby with limestone-lined entrance and “living greenwall” welcomes residents, and apartments balance affordable housing standards and durable, economic materials, with contemporary design and elegant finishes. Large windows fill homes with natural light and views, but few compete with the vista from the communal roof terrace at the 13th floor overlooking Prospect Park and lower Manhattan. Other resident amenities include a 13th floor lounge and a gym on the second floor with adjacent rear yard terrace.

The team is pursing LEED v4 NC (Silver) and Energy Star certification and Enterprise Green Communities for the development. The building has continuous insulation at roofs and facade, high performing aluminum windows, hydronic PTACS, an energy efficient gas fired boiler for domestic hot water and a “micro-cogen” which generates heat and electricity in a single system.

This project was a collaboration between different city agencies and BIPOC-led community organizations and developers to grow economic opportunities for BIPOC entrepreneurs while also adding housing options for the rapidly changing neighborhood and borough. With a contemporary design and elegant finishes Caton Flats brings affordable housing with a high-end feel to the heart of Brooklyn; while its community spaces, small business supports and culturally engaged retail promote the dynamism and pride manifest in this neighborhood. Partnerships such as this one, focused on equity and the two overlapping issues of economic development and housing development should be a model for the industry.​​

Location: Brooklyn, New York
Developer: BRP Companies