Nonprofit developer-operator Catholic Charities of Brooklyn & Queens (Brooklyn, N.Y.) opened Pope Francis Apartments at Loreto, a 62+ supportive affordable housing community in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Located on the former site of Our Lady of Loreto Church, the 83,000-square-foot, eight-story community includes 135 residential units, including a mix of independent units for seniors and inclusionary housing supportive units, as well as supportive services, community spaces, and an on-site laundry.

Opened in April 2022, the building, which meets Enterprise Green Communities Criteria, a comprehensive green building framework specifically for affordable housing, features a rooftop solar energy installation, thermally high-performing building envelope, water-saving and energy-efficient fixtures, and low- and zero-VOC materials and finishes.

With space at a premium, RKTB Architects (New York), which served as the design firm on the project, approached the unit layouts to emphasize efficiency with L-shaped kitchens opening up toward living areas, while interior unit corridors were kept as small as possible.


“This design approach provides the feel of the larger useable area associated with market-rate units,” Nelson Vega, project manager and associate principal with RKTB. “We also specified cost-effective LVT flooring for that much desired and comforting look and feel of wood.”

Additionally, the kitchens feature quartz countertops with subway tile installed in a stacked pattern terminating directly on the countertops. This contemporary aesthetic is reinforced with a simple palette of white walls, gray flush face cabinet doors, and stainless steel pull handles, a look that is continued in the unit bathrooms, he adds.

The firm also prioritized incorporating some of the site’s history into the new housing project, including installing mural-size photographs of Our Lady of Loreto in the lobby, “a gesture that connects residents and visitors to the neighborhood’s roots,” Vega says.

Additionally, he notes, lots of glazing at the lobby and in the corridors make the most of natural daylight and emphasize the importance of community.

The project team chose the exterior materials palette to complement the neighborhood.

“The adjacent buildings and the architectural context of the neighborhood at large are dominated by brick buildings with an assortment of colors,” Vega says. “Our  materials palette for the façade of Pope Francis Apartments at Loreto includes similarly colored brick veneer with metals and EIFS in complementary colors, all of which are familiar to the site and the neighborhood.”

Anne DiNardo is executive editor of Environments for Aging magazine. She can be reached at anne.dinardo@emeraldx.com.