WinnDevelopment to Acquire, Renovate Jersey City Affordable Housing
The community is a townhouse-style property featuring 14 clusters of buildings.
Jersey City, N.J.—WinnDevelopment has obtained the financing it needs to acquire and renovate Brunswick Estates, a 131-unit affordable housing property in Jersey City, N.J. The community is a townhouse-style property featuring 14 clusters of buildings with apartments units ranging from two to five bedrooms, as well as a central building.
The $40.2 million project will undertake interior and exterior upgrades to the property, which date back to the early 1980s. Among other things, the work will address deferred maintenance needs, including lingering damage from Hurricane Sandy, as well as a lack of community space, adequate security, ADA compliance and energy efficiency, according to WinnDevelopment.
No residents will be permanently displaced during construction, which be done in phases during weekdays on a building-by-building basis. The residents of eight units that need to be made ADA compliant will be temporarily relocated off site, but within the neighborhood, for about two weeks.
In addition to the physical improvements planned for the property, WinnDevelopment is partnering with the nonprofit Greater Bergen Community Action Inc. (GBCA) to provide financial literacy services to Brunswick Estates residents. GBCA is Jersey City’s Head Start provider and also serves the city with a variety of other programs geared to improve the lot of low- and middle-income families.
The New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) is providing a nearly $28 million in construction and permanent financing for the project. The agency is using its Conduit Bond program, in which developers get the added benefits of HMFA’s tax-exempt financing and the 4 percent federal Low Income Tax Credits.
Other public-private partners in the Brunswick Estates project the City of Jersey City, including the Jersey City Department of Community Development; the New Jersey Economic Development Authority; Citi Community Capital; the Richman Group Affordable Housing Corp.; New Jersey Community Capital; and Boston Community Capital. The deal was brokered by Dane PCG, based in New York City.