Michael Kelly, the former general manager of New York City Housing Authority–who resigned amidst an ongoing lead paint scandal–was named the chief operating officer and executive vice president of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation today.
Kelly stepped down from his NYCHA position in February as the agency was embroiled in a scandal where they violated local and federal regulations regarding annual lead paint inspections by falsely claiming that NYCHA was in compliance. Kelly joined two other agency officials in resigning, while another was demoted.
But the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the nonprofit organization that serves as the real estate developer and property manager of the area is welcoming Kelly as one of their new officials.
“BNYDC continues to demonstrate its ability to fulfill its mission of creating middle-class jobs for New Yorkers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard,” said the organization’s president and CEO David Ehrenberg. “Its success is based on the experience, capabilities and devotion of its team, which now includes Michael Kelly. His decades of experience will greatly support BNYDC in the management of the 300-acre campus.”
According to BNYDC, Kelly will be in charge of overseeing the yard’s operations and property management team, which manages the industrial park’s energy infrastructure, utilities and building maintenance.
Kelly has more than 30 years of real estate management experience and worked with the Housing Authorities in New Orleans, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and most recently New York City. He’s also served as the director of the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development. Kelly began his career as an architect for the San Francisco Housing Authority in 1983. In 1994, as acting executive director, he had achieved the honor of being the first registered architect to head a large Public Housing Authority in the U.S.
