Electchester, Queens

Electchester is a cooperative housing unit which is located in Fresh Meadows, Queens and established by Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. and Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Queens, New York.

Electchester was established in 1949, when Harry Van Arsdale Jr., worked with the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry to purchase convert|103|acre|km2 of a former country club and build apartment buildings. 5,550 people live in about 2,500 units in 38 buildings, many of which are six-story brick structures. It is adjacent to Pomonok and is a fairly safe neighborhood. It is served by Public School 200, which is on land donated by Electchester. The union provided the majority of the mortgage. New York state offered tax abatements. Electchester was classified as a "limited dividend nonprofit", subject to state regulations. The first families paid $475 per room for equity shares, and carrying charges of $26 per month per room, on apartments ranging from three and a half to five and a half rooms. [Harry Van Arsdale Jr.: Labor's Champion" (M.E. Sharpe, 2002)] .

References

*New York Times; March 15, 2004; Electchester Getting Less Electrical; Queens Co-op for Trade Workers Slowly Departs From Its Roots. The meat cutters had Concourse Village in the Bronx. The garment workers had Seward Park Houses in Manhattan. The printers had Big Six Towers in Queens. Decades ago, local unions sponsored more than a dozen cooperatives that provided almost 50,000 decent and affordable apartments to working-class families. As the power of labor waned and real estate values skyrocketed, though, most of these co-ops either lost their direct union connection or allowed their shareholders to sell their units on the open market.