The latest step has been taken in the long-term multi-phase process to replace the former Cottage Gardens Housing Complex in Yonkers dating from 1945 with modern affordable housing. Officials from the city, Yonkers Housing Authority (YHA) and The Community Builders (TCB) were on hand when demolition of the final Cottage Gardens building began. In its place will rise Willow at the Ridgeway, a new 8-story, all-electric, 100% affordable building with 92 units for seniors.
“The demolition of Cottage Place Gardens is a historic milestone for our city as we begin yet another chapter in the ongoing transformation of our city’s affordable housing,” Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said. “There are so many people to thank for making this wonderful project a reality. We look forward to a groundbreaking in the months ahead.”
According to Wilson Kimball, president and CEO of the YHA, “Tearing down the last of Cottage Gardens marks an end of an era that provided Yonkers Housing Authority tenants with less than their neighbors in terms of quality, craftsmanship and accommodation. Today Yonkers Housing Authority meets the market in all areas in its housing.”
Yonkers City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy recalled having moved into Cottage Place Gardens with her family in 1985.
“This property helped to mold me into the woman I am today,” Collins-Bellamy said. “When I began working for MHACY (Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers) in 2007, my first assignment was Cottage Place Gardens in the same building where I once lived. Today, as I shed a tear, I reminisced about friendships and memories that I will cherish forever. I am confident that families will have the same sense of family and community I experienced at Cottage Place Gardens.”
Jesse Batus, senior vice president of real estate development for The Community Builders expressed the company’s commitment together with the YHA and the Mulford Corporation to bringing opportunity to many future generations at Willow at the Ridgeway. The Mulford Corporation is a nonprofit corporation that was formed to develop, manage and facilitate affordable housing in Yonkers.
Willow at the Ridgeway, which is located at 23 Bishop W.J. Walls Place, is replacing two vacant public housing buildings. The unit mix includes 85 one-bedroom units a d seven two-bedroom units. Thirty-one of the units are reserved for households at or below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI), 29 units are reserved for households at or below 50% AMI, and 32 units are reserved for households at or below 60% AMI.
Amenities in the apartments will include free internet, air-conditioning, electric ranges, and Energy STAR appliances. The building will provide common laundry rooms on each floor, a community room, fitness center, and a resident terrace on the seventh floor with seating and a solar canopy.
The building will be all-electric except for a natural gas-powered emergency generator and will include rooftop solar panels. Willow at the Ridgeway is designed to achieve Enterprise Green Communities certification upon the building’s completion.
YHA, TCB, and Mulford plan to use relationships with local partners such as the Yonkers Office of Aging to offer a range of services to tenants.
Funding for the project is being provided by New York State Housing Finance Agency; New York State Homes and Community Renewal; State of New York Mortgage Agency; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; New York State Empire State Development; RBC Community Investments, LLC; The Bank of New York Mellon; Westchester County; City of Yonkers, Yonkers Housing Authority and Community Capital New York.
