First acquired by the City in 1971, 856 9th Avenue was a fully occupied tenement with tubs in the kitchen and private water closets inside the apartments. The ground floor was a well-known Broadway stagehand hangout called Amy’s Pub, which had been there for decades. After a terrible fire, CHDC worked with the long-term operators of Amy's Pub to redevelop the building. However, after an additional fire in the adjacent building, 856 9th Ave partially collapsed, Amy’s Pub had to close, and the building sat vacant.

In 1993, the City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development grouped this and four other vacant buildings in the neighborhood to be renovated through the Special Initiatives Program which focused on housing homeless families, including creating ground floor apartments. However, based upon neighborhood needs to maintain commercial space on 9th Avenue, Manhattan Community Board 4 (MCB4) argued for returning retail on the ground floor for new businesses. The final plan included four 1-bedrooms, four 2-bedrooms, and a ground floor retail space.

In 1993, the City issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a nonprofit sponsor to own and manage the buildings. CHDC was designated to be the owner and manager of those buildings as part of a 5-building package and entered into a net lease with the City. CHDC’s first task was to review all homeless family referrals for apartments and then rent those remaining to neighborhood families through the HPD lottery process.

CHDC purchased the building in 1999, and the ground floor store is currently home to the Blu Seafood Restaurant. CHDC partners with Hudson Guild, a social service agency, to provide services for families in the building.