Urban multifamily housing developer Eran Epstein has completed his renovation of a former East Side factory into affordable housing and retail space, opening East Village Lofts.

The $4 million, two-year project by Epstein’s E Square Capital LLC converted the four-story, 45,000-square-foot factory at 937 Broadway at Fillmore Avenue into a mix of 43 affordable studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.

The apartments rent for $325 a month for a studio, from $348 to $517 for one-bedroom units, and $549 for the largest two-bedroom apartment; all rents include heat. The firm said Monday that 60 percent of the units were rented within the first five days after opening.

“This is a much-needed addition to desirable housing in the neighborhood, and the first new housing complex there in many years,” said Epstein, owner and managing director of E Square.

The apartments range in size from 416 square feet to 1,248 square feet, with loft designs, new appliances and ceramic tiles. The building features on-site laundry, a community room, elevator and a security system, as well as a gated parking lot for 22 cars at Wilson and Townsend streets, where E Square purchased nearby vacant lots from the city of Buffalo.

Wagner Optical, the only current commercial tenant, remains on the ground floor, but E Square also created two more retail spaces of 3,000 square feet and 1,000 square feet.

The opening of the building completes a project that began when Epstein bought the building in 2002 from Mauntner Co., a jewelry display case maker that left the building in 2000. He paid $10, and also assumed $20,000 in back taxes and $40,000 in utility bills owed on the property. Epstein and Chris Gerhart of CWG Development collaborated on the project with Silvestri Architects, but E Square was the contractor and will manage the property.

The project received government benefits from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency and the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, and financing from Boston Capital Corp. and Citizens Bank.

This is the latest venture for Epstein, who began investing in Buffalo residential real estate in 1994 while he was a student at the University at Buffalo. Since then, his firm has purchased a 21-unit apartment building at 367 Elmwood Ave., a 23-unit building at 2803 Main St. and a 48-unit building at 950 Delaware Ave.

The firm also worked with Gerhart to renovate the former Holling Press factory at 501 Washington St. into 82 affordable apartments, and turned the building across the street at 504 Washington into loft condominiums. Last year, Epstein and Gerhart opened The Residence at 245 North St., with 64 affordable senior citizen apartments in the former YWCA Residence.