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Event / Action Date:Oct 8, 2026
A 400-apartment affordable housing development planned for Jamaica, Queens, is pairing new homes and supportive services with an ambitious building-performance agenda. Its 173-unit Hillside North building has received a $1.2 million Buildings of Excellence award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Gilbane Development and MURAL Real Estate Partners announced the recognition on October 8. The award supports a building still in development, not a completed property with demonstrated energy savings. NYSERDA lists its status as construction documents and anticipates completion in 2029.
The first phase of the Jamaica Hillside redevelopment calls for 13- and 14-story residential buildings, 400 affordable apartments and approximately 17,000 square feet of neighborhood-serving retail. The development team says the apartments will serve a range of incomes, including formerly homeless households.
Queens-based nonprofit Elmcor Youth and Adult Activities will provide supportive services. The announcement does not give a complete income-band or supportive-unit breakdown, so the 400-home total should not be read as 400 apartments at one rent level.
The 14-story North Building accounts for 173 of the planned apartments. Its design targets PHI Classic Passive House certification alongside other building-performance and resident-health standards. Certification remains a goal, not an achievement established by the award.
Planned systems include a high-performance envelope, triple-pane windows, rooftop solar, energy-recovery ventilation and a blackwater-source heat pump for domestic hot water. Real-time energy monitoring would help building staff track performance after occupancy.
The design also addresses outages and extreme weather. The developer describes an area of refuge with backup power, ventilation, water and medication refrigeration. NYSERDA identifies backup support for critical loads, including lighting and elevators, as well as green-roof stormwater management.
The development team expects construction financing to close in December 2026, substantial completion in June 2029 and conversion to permanent financing in January 2030. Those are projected milestones, not completed transactions.
For affordable housing owners, the operating question is whether advanced systems deliver reliable performance within a manageable maintenance budget. Commissioning, staff training and ongoing monitoring will matter alongside the initial design. The award does not establish future utility savings or prove that the building has met its certification targets.
Hillside North offers a concrete example of energy and resilience goals being built into an affordable housing plan before construction. The next milestones are the financing closing, construction progress and eventual verification that the completed building performs as designed.
The 173-unit Hillside North building, part of a planned 400-apartment affordable housing development in Jamaica, Queens, has received a $1.2 million Buildings of Excellence award from NYSERDA, emphasizing energy efficiency and sustainability. While the project aims for Passive House certification and includes supportive services for various income levels, the real test for operators will be ensuring that advanced energy systems perform reliably within budget constraints as the project moves toward its projected completion in 2029.
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