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At more than 120 acres, the Rochdale Village co-op complex in southeast Queens is big enough to fit four CitiFields inside its borders, with some room left over for a Little League diamond.
It’s home to 25,000 people, making it one of the largest complexes from a bygone era of affordable housing in New York City: Mitchell-Lama, a state program created in 1955 that targeted middle-class residents by placing income caps on those who can purchase an apartment and limiting how much units can be sold for. Rochdale Village residents typically pay no more than a $23,000 purchase price, followed by average monthly maintenance costs ranging from $1,000 to $1,800…