Slate Property Group and Breaking Ground are teaming up on a $500 million affordable housing project in Midtown Manhattan. The joint venture acquired the vacant Stewart Hotel for $255 million and plans to convert the property to a 579-unit housing community.
Sioni Group and The Chetrit Group were the former owners, Yardi Matrix shows. Construction is set to begin in the latter half of 2026.
Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase provided acquisition financing, with contributions from the Low-Income Investment Fund, LISC Fund Management and the Corporation for Supportive Housing.
New York State’s Hotel and Commercial Conversions Program is providing with $86.9 million toward development. Other financing will come from New York City Housing Development Corporation tax exempt bonds, the New York City Housing Preservation and Development’s Supportive Housing Loan Program, and other public and private sources.
Conversion details
Due to the property’s layout, Slate expects construction to take approximately two years, with residents anticipated to move in by December 2028. The redevelopment will convert the 611-room hotel into 579 studio and one-bedroom units, following major building and mechanical system replacements and LED lighting upgrades. Rents are projected to range from $1,385 to $1,731, with units reserved for low-income households and formerly homeless individuals, in line with affordable housing trends.
Slate first revealed the conversion plans in July. The company told MHN that about a third of the rooms already have kitchenettes, allowing the developer to save time and money on conversion.
Upon the development’s completion, Breaking Ground will own and manage the property. Through a contract with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the company will offer onsite support to its residences as they adjust to permanent housing. The asset’s ballroom and meeting space are being transformed to an on-site resident services office. Breaking Ground will also operate its Tenant360 program, offering recreational, educational and social programming.
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“Breaking Ground is among the city’s largest supportive housing providers and has enormous experience with hotel-to-housing conversions,” John Valladares, managing partner at Slate, told Multi-Housing News.
Located across from New York Penn Station at 371 Seventh Ave., the hotel opened in 1929. The building spans 31 stories with 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and closed in 2022. It was most recently used as a migrant shelter.
NYC affordable housing track record
Slate previously completed Baisley Pond Park Residences in South Jamaica, Queens, transforming the former JFK Hilton Hotel into a 318-unit affordable community. Developed in partnership with RiseBoro Community Partnership, the project was the city’s first hotel-to-residential conversion under the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act, a 2021 law that facilitates the repurposing of vacant hotels as affordable housing. Eighteen months of construction wrapped on Dec. 18.
In February 2025, Slate and Avenue Realty Capital and delivered The Welz, a 162-unit mixed-income community in Brooklyn designed by Aufgang Architects. Also in February, Breaking Ground began a project at 1760 Third Ave. in East Harlem, N.Y. The work is expected to take 18 to 24 months and will bring 435 supportive housing units to the neighborhood.
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