A long-abandoned public school property in Yonkers will be redeveloped as an affordable-housing complex in an estimated $52.4 million project by the city and a nonprofit developer
The project partners, the Yonkers Municipal Housing Authority and The Community Builders Inc., based in Boston, Mass., will replace the P.S 6 school building at 33 Ashburton Ave. with a 50-unit mid-rise apartment building for senior citizens and a 70-unit high-rise building for low-income families. The multifamily building will include 33 one-bedroom, 29 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom rental units.
The one-bedroom apartments for seniors and 43 of the family units will be leased to households earning no more than 60 percent of the area median gross income. The remaining 27 family units will be restricted to households making no more than 30 percent of the area median gross income.
The complex will be designed according to environmental and energy-efficiency standards, with partial “green” roofs over the parking area at ground level and above the fifth floor. Community rooms and a shared computer lab and laundry facility are included in the complex.
Although the existing building will be torn down, the main entry arch to P.S. 6 will be preserved as a façade feature of the computer lab.
The school sits on a state brownfield site. The developer must do an environmental cleanup before building demolition and construction begins.
One of the largest development companies in the U.S. and a specialist in projects financially assisted by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), The Community Builders (TCB) has completed more than 320 projects and 25,000 housing units in 15 states in its 45 years of operation.
The two-year redevelopment project would create approximately 350 construction jobs.
The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency board recently agreed to schedule a public hearing on the project and the IDA”™s plan to negotiate an economic development package with the developer. Incentives could include sales and use-tax exemptions for materials and equipment used in construction, a mortgage recording tax exemption and a structured property-tax or PILOT agreement.
The project could be partly financed by tax-exempt bonds issued by the Yonkers Economic Development Corp. Other financing includes a $1 million HUD HOME grant to Yonkers for affordable-housing initiatives as well as other federal, state and local assistance.
Ellen Lynch, president and CEO of the Yonkers IDA, said the project will “bring new energy to Ashburton Avenue ”“ a very busy east-west connector to the Yonkers waterfront.” The school demolition and site cleanup “will provide a great boost to Yonkers downtown renaissance and help improve the quality of the life of our residents,” she said.
The IDA had not scheduled a hearing date at press time. It must give its final approval of the project after the hearing.
