Now, there's a new plan to turn those apartments into affordable housing.
The city announced the first deal under a program to help developers who've fallen on hard times.
The city will pay $3 million to subsidize a residential construction in the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens area in Brooklyn.
In return, the developer will reserve the building's 46 units for middle-income New Yorkers.
The deal is part of a $20 million pilot program.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says similar agreements are in the works.
