This special web site relates only to the affordable apartments at 1500 Lexington Avenue (also known as Carnegie Terrace II) located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.
Carnegie Terrace II Apartments
Carnegie Terrace II is an “80/20” rental building located between 96th and 97th Streets and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan. In this fully occupied building, 20% of the apartments are set aside for low income households. The property, with 42 affordable apartments, was completed and fully leased up in 2003.
The building is conveniently located close to mass transit (Lexington Avenue Subway – 96th Street stop; Second Avenue Subway – 96th Street stop; and various bus routes, including the cross Park bus at 96th Street) as well as to Central Park and The Reservoir which are three blocks away. The property is several blocks from both Mount Sinai and Metropolitan hospitals. The full service, multifamily building has a 24/7 concierge desk where deliveries are accepted on behalf of tenants and any visitors are announced to tenants before being allowed into the building. The property has a professionally-landscaped rooftop terrace for the exclusive use of tenants during daylight hours and a Resident’s Lounge with big screen TV and WiFi. Available to building tenants for additional fees, there is a laundry room, a well-equipped fitness center, as well as bicycle and other storage. Commercial Tenants at this property are currently as follows: CVS (open 24/7), CityMD (an urgent care center) and Lexington 96 Cleaners.
Apartment turnover among the affordable apartments in fully occupied residential buildings like Carnegie Terrace II primarily involve studio size apartments. For whatever reason, households occupying larger size affordable units (1 and 2 bedroom size units) rarely ever vacate their apartments.
As you might imagine, many applicants apply to be considered for affordable apartments when new buildings originally market/lease any designated affordable units. This process is usually started well before a new building is completed and ready for initial tenant occupancy. Accordingly, when the original waiting list for Carnegie Terrace II was created in 2002/2003, more than 7,000 applications were received for the 42 low income apartments. In 2005, as there were limited viable applicants for vacancy affordable studio size apartments (for single person households on initial occupancy) remaining on the outstanding waiting list(s), the building undertook the Carnegie Terrace I & II re-marketing effort for applicants to fill vacancy affordable studio size apartments. In 2011, as once again there were limited viable applicants for studio size apartments remaining on any of the waiting lists including the 2005 studio-only waiting list, the building decided to open up and keep open (“evergreen”) the Carnegie Terrace I & II Waiting List for affordable apartment applicants. According to affordable housing program rules, these apartments are generally not open to student households where all persons who would reside in the affordable apartment are full-time students.
When buildings containing affordable units are first opened, there are sometimes multiple income ranges for which applicants interested in being considered for affordable apartments can apply. In the case of Carnegie Terrace II, there are 40% and 50% of Area Median Income (“AMI”) affordable units with the 50% AMI units having a slightly higher income range and monthly rent. However, based on affordable housing program rules, under which these buildings are financed and operated, once current affordable tenants in a property become “over income” by a certain percentage, more affordable vacancy units are in the 40% of Area Median Income variety – available for very low income households only.
Applicants hoping for higher income affordable apartments, or those larger than studio size units, should look elsewhere in new buildings just being constructed and leased-up where more apartments are available and more income categories of apartments might be available. Be sure to read the specific program rules and consider the income limitations whenever you apply for affordable housing.
Although building ownership is not limiting applications via this web site to studio apartments only, single person households as established in our regulatory agreement with New York State Housing Finance Agency, our regulator, that is what Carnegie Terrace II will consider from the Waiting List(s) to fill vacancy affordable apartments. There are still viable applicants comprised of two or more household members, on the original waiting list (Carnegie Terrace II) for larger size apartments, or single person households willing to be considered for only a larger size apartment, and accordingly these applicants would be considered for larger affordable apartment vacancies before any applicant on this newer Carnegie Terrace I & II Waiting List.
IN SUMMARY, IF YOU SUBMIT AN APPLICATION AND ARE ELIGIBLE FOR A STUDIO SIZE AFFORDABLE APARTMENT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU FALL WITHIN THE 40% AMI INCOME RANGE, YOU WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR AN APARTMENT SOONER THAN OTHER LARGER HOUSEHOLD APPLICANTS FROM THIS CARNEGIE TERRACE I & II WAITING LIST.
If you or someone from your household applied to Carnegie Terrace II or Carnegie Terrace I & II and you have already been assigned and notified of your log number, and your application has not been considered or terminated yet, you will remain on the relevant Carnegie Terrace II or Carnegie Terrace I & II waiting lists. There is no need for you to apply again at this time or to check on the status of your application or Log Number. If your household has changed (you or another member of your household are/is now living independently and you feel you may qualify as a single person household for a studio size unit, for example), you may feel free to submit a new application for your current household.
Current Income Limits/Rents
2023 AFFORDABLE APARTMENT RENT & INCOME INFORMATION FOR SINGLE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS FOR STUDIO SIZE VACANCY UNITS
|
HOUSEHOLD SIZE * |
APARTMENT TYPE * |
AREA MEDIAN INCOME |
MONTHLY RENT ** |
TOTAL GROSS ANNUAL INCOME *** MINIMUM -MAXIMUM |
|
|
1 |
Studio |
40% |
$1,038 |
$34,600 |
$45,360 |
|
1 |
Studio |
50% |
$1,321 |
$44,017 |
$56,700 |
* SUBJECT TO OCCUPANCY CRITERIA AS ESTABLISHED BY NYS HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY REGULATORY AGENCY
** RENT SUBJECT TO CHANGE; ELECTRIC (INCLUDING AIR CONDITIONING) NOT INCLUDED
*** INCOME REQUIREMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Income limits and associated apartment rents (which are derived from the maximum income) for affordable apartments are periodically reviewed and re-set by the United States government (more specifically, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development) based on area median incomes. The income limits (all of which relate to gross income for the household, before any Federal, State or Local taxes and/or other deductions) are usually reviewed and announced annually. Although these are the current income limits and rents for Single Person Households for affordable studio size apartments in this building, the limits that will be used are those in place at the time an affordable application is actually considered by building ownership for a specific affordable apartment vacancy which may or may not be the numbers referenced above.
Just prior to considering your application for a specific affordable apartment vacancy, you will be notified that we have reached your assigned Log Number for consideration. Depending on how soon after you submitted your application, it is reviewed and considered for a vacancy affordable apartment, you may be asked to complete and submit an Affordable Apartment Application Update (similar in content to the information collected in the Application you would be submitting at this time). At that time, you would be notified of the current income limits for the vacancy apartment for which you are being considered as well as other significant requirements.
Once you are on the Carnegie Terrace II or Carnegie Terrace I & II Waiting List(s), it is your responsibility to make sure that the building ownership is aware of your current mailing address so if they try to contact you, they are successful in reaching you. If you move, you need to send a written notice, of your new contact information, to the same address where you are submitting your application. You must reference your assigned Log Number for Carnegie Terrace II or Carnegie Terrace I & II. If building management attempts to reach an affordable apartment applicant on one of the Carnegie Terrace II waiting lists and the mailing is returned by the US Mail for lack of good mailing address (including any necessary apartment or house number as well as zip code), or you fail to respond with all requested information in the time period allotted for your reply, the application will be terminated and you will not be considered for an affordable unit at this property.
Application Instructions
If, after reading the above information, you feel that you want to apply for the Carnegie Terrace I & II Waiting List, please download a copy of the Application. The Application, available below, is a PDF and accordingly, Adobe Reader is required to accomplish this download. If you do not have Adobe Reader, we have provided a link below whereby you can download the useful program at no cost to you. Please note, the Application prints on standard 8 ½ x 11 paper. The Application with Cover Sheet is a total of SIX (6) PAGES LONG. Please make sure that all of the pages print correctly and that you submit all five pages of the Carnegie Terrace I & II Application. Read each question carefully and answer all honestly and completely. Please PRINT your answers, making use of ink, as clearly as possible so that they may be read by building staff. Note: All household members who are 18 years old and older must sign and date the last page.
Please submit only one application per household. If you submit more than one, your application(s) will be terminated.
Do NOT pay a broker or application fee to anyone in connection with obtaining, preparing or filing out this application for affordable housing.
If you have no access to a printer, or you would prefer not to deal with the PDF download, you can request a printed copy of the Application by submitting a written request to the address below. We would be happy to send you a pre-printed copy of the Application. Please make sure that you provide your complete mailing address, including any apartment or house number, so that the mailing reaches you.
Via US Mail, please submit your completed application to us at the following address:
Carnegie Terrace I & II Waiting List
c/o Kenbar Management
1500 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10029
As received, each application will be assigned a log number which will be used to identify that application going forward. Bear in mind, vacancy apartments that we are working to fill at a particular time will determine the household size(s) that we will consider. ACCORDINGLY, GIVEN THAT WE FILL ONLY STUDIO SIZE VACANCY APARTMENTS AND MANY VIABLE APPLICANTS FOR LARGER SIZE APARTMENTS REMAIN ON OUR OLDER WAITING LISTS, SINGLE PERSON HOUSEHOLDS WHO APPLY WILL BE CONSIDERED BEFORE OTHER SIZE HOUSEHOLDS REGARDLESS OF LOG NUMBER ASSIGNED IN THIS CARNEGIE TERRACE I & II WAITING LIST.
Application Download
You can download the application form here.
If you don’t have Acrobat Reader you can install it here.
Helpful Information Regarding Affordable Housing
As the chances of actually obtaining a low income unit in any particular building with affordable apartments is small given the number of apartments versus the number of applications usually submitted, you might want to regularly check with affordable housing hotlines and/or web sites. A few of the ones we happen to know about are as follows:
Hotlines for Affordable Housing:
Housing Preservation & Development Affordable Housing Hotline:
212-863-5610
Settlement Housing Fund Marketing Hotline:
212-757-0633
Related Management Affordable Housing Hotline:
212-987-6445
Web Site Links:
- Housing Connect 2 | Public Portal (nyc.gov)
- Find | NYCHDC
- Find Affordable Housing | Homes and Community Renewal (ny.gov)
- NYC Housing Development Corporation – Apartments for Rent
- Affordable Housing | Related
Please be aware, many applicants apply for affordable housing in the NYC area. There could be hundreds of applications submitted for each available apartment at any given building/project. There are new buildings, currently under construction or renovation, where there are many affordable units being filled (initial occupancy), where ones chances of being considered for an apartment is greater, versus existing projects/buildings where only one or few vacancy unit(s) are being re-rented or simply the waiting list is being replenished for future vacancy unit(s), where ones chances of being considered are much lower.
If the building location is desirable (well established neighborhood, close to mass transit, etc.), it could be even greater numbers, further reducing your chances of actually being considered for an affordable apartment. Accordingly, if you are serious about finding an affordable apartment and feel that you qualify for these kinds of housing programs, you should apply to as many buildings/projects as possible thereby increasing your chances of actually being considered for an affordable apartment.
Most application processes are conducted via lottery among applications submitted by some deadline to determine the order of application review. You can increase your chances of actually being considered for an affordable apartment by submitting applications to any building/project where you appear to qualify based on household/family size and specific income limitations for that affordable lease-up. Be sure to read each application, including all instructions, very carefully to make sure that you qualify before you complete and submit any application.
Good luck with your search for affordable housing.