Yonkers, NY – September 20, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — The revitalization of the Cottage Gardens public housing complex took another step forward today, as the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (YIDA) voted to move ahead with a plan to demolish two of the housing complex’s deteriorated buildings and add a 50 unit mixed income affordable housing apartment building.
The new housing will be located at 188 Warburton Street, on the western side of Cottage Gardens. Two Cottage Gardens buildings adjacent to the new apartments will be demolished.
Today’s action is the second step of a plan that also involves the transformation of the former School 6 on the southern side of Cottage Gardens into 120 units of family and senior housing. The School 6 project, funded last year, will be in construction by early 2013. Residents of the demolished buildings will be eligible to move into the School 6 redevelopment.
“Together these projects replace some of the most deteriorated Cottage Gardens buildings, and also link Cottage Gardens to the surrounding neighborhood,” said Mayor Mike Spano who also chairs the YIDA. He added, “It transforms Cottage Gardens from being an isolated housing project into a community that opens directly onto public streets and becomes part of a neighborhood.”
Specifically, the YIDA will take a leasehold interest in the sites and then lease the sites back to a limited partnership run by Community Builders, Inc., a non-profit housing corporation that will oversee the construction of the new apartments. YIDA will provide an estimated $48,924 in relief on mortgage taxes, $566,862 in sales tax relief on construction materials, and a property tax exemption that will be negotiated. The site on which the new buildings will be constructed is .95 acre. Besides the apartments, there will also be a parking garage for 77 vehicles constructed underneath the building.
The project is being carried out in conjunction with the Yonkers Municipal Housing Authority as part of its overall plan to improve the Ashburton-Ravine neighborhood.
The project is estimated to cost a total of $19 million. It will create an estimated 209 temporary construction jobs, plus ten new full time equivalent jobs.
“This project also complements the Housing Authority’s efforts to improve Mulford Gardens at the eastern end of the Ashburton Avenue corridor,” said Spano, “The City is committed to revitalizing this essential part of our City, restoring it as a vibrant place for business as well as the residents who call it home,” said Spano, “Today was another critical step in that process.”
