235 West 107th Street is located between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue (Google Maps)
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On Monday morning, Goddard Riverside will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil its new supportive housing residence at 235 West 107th Street, marking the official opening of the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Residence.
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Named in honor of longtime executive director Stephan Russo, a pioneer in anti-homelessness efforts and community-based support, the six-story property is reopening after a $38 million renovation. Once an illegal hotel known as the Morningside Inn, the building has been transformed into a permanent housing residence for formerly homeless New Yorkers.The event — taking place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on October 27 — will include remarks from elected officials, Goddard and Rockabill leadership, and Russo himself, followed by tours of the newly refurbished building. According to Goddard’s press team, the building is currently about half full.
The project was first announced in 2021, when Goddard Riverside, in partnership with Rockabill Development, acquired the West 107th Street property, a 95-unit single-room occupancy building. Their goal was to preserve and reimagine it as permanent affordable and supportive housing, not a shelter.
The renovated building now features 54 supportive units for individuals exiting homelessness, while “an additional 14 beds provide affordable housing to low-income tenants, including the handful of people currently living in the building,” according the project’s website. Each floor includes communal kitchens and dining areas designed to serve six or seven residents, while the first floor and cellar offer a community room and offices for on-site case management, counseling, and health services managed by Goddard Riverside.
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“This particular project is permanent tenants, stable housing and not a shelter,” noted Roderick L. Jones, executive director of Goddard Riverside Community Center, when the plan was first shared at a Community Board 7 meeting in 2023. “I think it’s important that we call out [that] this is not a shelter.”Other improvements include accessibility upgrades to make the property fully ADA compliant, and enhanced access to the east and north courtyards to allow residents to better enjoy outdoor space.
The Stephan Russo Residence stands as one of the Upper West Side’s latest examples of adaptive reuse — converting a once-controversial property into a model for compassionate, long-term housing that combines affordability, stability, and on-site support.
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