For well over a century and through four generations, the Briarwood Organization has been a trusted developer, builder, and operator of residential, commercial, and mixed-use properties across the City of New York. Originally founded by Luigi Riso in 1912, the firm began as a modest contractor of single-family homes under the moniker L. Riso & Sons . During the post-war period, the company capitalized on open land throughout Queens and established itself as a prolific developer and construction manager of multi-family row housing. In the early 70s, Briarwood adopted the use of concrete pre-cast plank, resulting in markedly faster construction at a substantially lower cost-allowing Briarwood to prosper throughout the real estate recession of the 1980s: completing one of the first market-rate development in the West Side Urban Renewal area and successfully launching several mid-rise apartment complexes in Flushing’s residential boom.
Over the following decades Briarwood committed its resources towards making affordable home ownership truly possible for New Yorkers. As one of the first developers to embrace new city initiatives and collaborate with public agencies, Briarwood began building low and middle-income cooperatives in economically depressed areas at a time when many considered such projects as a risky investment and the public/private joint venture to be an unsustainable enterprise. To address the ever-changing New York landscape, Briarwood has evolved into an integrated real estate enterprise offering a full complement of services and capabilities. Since inception, the company has adhered to a basic mandate: participate in projects which both maximize property potential and strengthen the economic fabric of the local community. The growth and longevity that has followed are deeply rooted in these parallel principles and they remain a cornerstone of the organization’s philosophy today.
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