Similar to many postindustrial districts, Hunters Point is undergoing a remarkable transformation. In the past decade, warehouses and factories in this Long Island City neighborhood have given way to glass towers and waterfront promenades. Now, construction has begun on a multiphase affordable housing complex that eventually will provide thousands of units for low- to middle-income tenants.

The 30-acre development, Hunters Point South, is a key component of Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan, an $8.4 billion initiative to build 165,000 affordable housing units by the end of the 2014 fiscal year. The Hunters Point development, in terms of units, will be the largest affordable housing complex built in the five boroughs since the early 1970s, when Co-Op City (Bronx) and Starrett City (Brooklyn) were completed.