Baisley Pond Opens: NYC's First Hotel-to-Affordable Housing Conversion

TL;DR

The Baisley Pond Park Residences officially opened in December 2025, marking New York City's first completed hotel-to-affordable housing conversion. The former JFK Hilton has been transformed into 318 affordable apartments, with 191 units designated as supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals. The $167M project is the first completed under New York's Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act (HONDA) program. Developed by Slate Property Group in partnership with RiseBoro Community Partnership, the project was championed by Governor Hochul as a model for addressing the state's housing crisis through adaptive reuse.

A Milestone for Hotel Conversions

This is the project I've been watching since we first covered the Baisley Pond pipeline at F6 Partners, and its completion is a genuine milestone for the hotel conversion movement. The former JFK Hilton — a hotel that had been struggling with declining occupancy for years before the pandemic delivered the final blow — has been reborn as 318 apartments serving New Yorkers who need housing the most.

The numbers tell the story. Of the 318 units, 191 are designated as supportive housing for formerly homeless individuals, providing not just a roof but wraparound social services including mental health support, job training, and case management. The remaining 127 units are affordable apartments for low-income families and individuals. Every single unit in the building is affordable — there is no market-rate component.

At $167M total development cost, the project came in at approximately $525,000 per unit. In a city where ground-up affordable housing regularly exceeds $700,000 per unit and can push past $1M in certain boroughs, the conversion economics are compelling. This is exactly why hotel conversions are the future of affordable housing production in high-cost markets.

The HONDA Program: A Regulatory Blueprint

The Baisley Pond project is the first completed under New York's Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act, known as HONDA. The program was created to facilitate the conversion of distressed hotels into permanent affordable and supportive housing — a direct legislative response to the dual crises of hotel industry distress and chronic housing shortage.

What makes HONDA significant beyond this single project is the regulatory framework it establishes. The program streamlines zoning approvals, provides dedicated funding streams, and creates a standardized process for converting hotels to residential use. In a city where entitlement timelines for new construction can stretch three to five years, HONDA approvals have moved in a fraction of that time.

Governor Hochul championed the program and was present at the Baisley Pond opening, calling it a model for how New York can address its housing crisis without waiting decades for new construction to come online. The governor's visible support signals that hotel conversions have moved from experimental concept to mainstream housing policy.

At F6 Partners, we've been advocating for exactly this kind of regulatory framework. When government creates clear pathways for conversions — with predictable timelines, dedicated funding, and streamlined approvals — private capital follows. HONDA is the proof point, and similar policy innovation is accelerating through programs like DC's 20-year tax abatement for office-to-residential conversions.

Slate Property Group and RiseBoro: The Partnership Model

The development team behind Baisley Pond deserves attention because their partnership model is instructive. Slate Property Group brought the real estate development expertise, capital markets relationships, and construction management capacity. RiseBoro Community Partnership brought decades of experience in affordable housing operations, social services delivery, and community engagement.

This is the kind of public-private partnership that makes hotel conversions work at scale, building on the conversion cost advantages over ground-up construction. The for-profit developer handles the physical transformation and financial structuring. The nonprofit partner ensures the building serves its intended population with high-quality services and community integration. Neither could execute the project as effectively alone.

The model is replicable. Every major city has distressed hotels, experienced developers, and mission-driven nonprofit housing operators. What's been missing is the regulatory framework and political will to connect them. Baisley Pond demonstrates that when those elements align, hotel conversions can deliver affordable housing faster, cheaper, and with better outcomes than traditional construction.

What This Means for the Industry

Baisley Pond is not just a single project — it's a proof of concept that will accelerate hotel conversions across New York and potentially nationwide. The project demonstrates that conversions can work at institutional scale, serve the most vulnerable populations, and deliver cost savings versus ground-up construction even in the most expensive market in the country.

At F6 Partners, hotel conversions remain central to our thesis. The hotel conversion revolution from room keys to house keys is accelerating. The combination of distressed hotel inventory, chronic housing shortage, and evolving regulatory support creates a convergence of factors that rewards operators with conversion expertise and community partnerships. Baisley Pond is what the future looks like.