Yonkers IDA Green-Lights Incentives for Modern Affordable Housing
Yonkers, NY--The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency has finalized a set of economic development incentives that will facilitate the construction of a seven-story, 77-unit affordable-housing apartment building in the city.
Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
Yonkers, NY–The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency (IDA) has finalized a set of economic development incentives that will facilitate the construction of a seven-story, 77-unit affordable-housing apartment building in the city. Inducements from the IDA include a sales- and use-tax exemption for materials and equipment used in construction, a real property tax agreement, and a mortgage recording tax exemption.
It’s the latest affordable multifamily project to be incentivized by the Yonkers IDA. “Over the past three years, the Yonkers IDA has provided incentives for several projects that have created or will create hundreds of new, modern affordable housing units,” Ellen Lynch, president and CEO of the agency, tells MHN. “The Yonkers IDA board makes decisions about whether to move forward with incentives based on the individual merits of each housing proposal.”
Lynch adds that the residents of such affordable housing aren’t the only beneficiaries from the projects. “We know that businesses look at the availability of workforce housing when they make decisions as to where to locate and grow,” she says.
The $25.6 million project will be developed by the Center for Urban Rehabilitation (CURE) and L+M Development Partners Inc. The building will include seven studios, 19 one-bedroom, 38 two-bedroom and 13 three-bedroom apartments, and the units will be available to families with incomes up to 80 percent of area medium income.
The plan also calls for 125 onsite parking spaces, a central laundry area and a community recreation room. In partnership with the city of Yonkers, the developers will restore the adjacent Irving Park, which is currently abandoned. The developers have also agreed to offer the residents of 55, 57 and 61 Ravine Ave.–buildings that will eventually be torn down to make way for the new, more modern complex–the opportunity to relocate to the new building or, if they prefer, to comparable housing elsewhere.
The project is consistent with the first phase of a larger Ravine Neighborhood Urban Renewal Plan drafted by Yonkers City Planning, which is expected to be brought before the city council in the near future. Work on the apartments is slated to begin in late 2011.
