Decades of declining and abandoned main streets have become an unpleasant hallmark for many mid-Hudson communities and Spring Valley is no exception. Dating to the opening of the now nearly defunct Nanuet Mall in 1969, small villages surrounding shopping megacenters have been left bereft of a downtown community.
It may have taken nearly forty years, but Spring Valley is hoping to change that paradigm. Three projects are on the radar to bring economic vitality to empty storefronts and littered streets of the once-healthy village center, thanks to a private-public partnership between CPC Resources in Hawthorne (a for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit Community Preservation Corporation) and the Rockland Housing Action Coalition, the county”™s affordable housing agency.
The first of three projects is a 53-unit apartment complex on Main Street, targeted for the 55-and-over population, where applicants”™ median income must be less than half of Rockland”™s current median: $76,000 for a family of two. The four-story complex will have 48 one-bedroom and five two-bedroom rentals, and 11,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor.
The $18 million price tag includes funds from a variety of profit and non-profit sources: an $8.4 million construction loan from JPMorgan Chase; $9.5 million from Centerline Capital Group; and a $1.8 million low-interest loan from the state. In addition, the Federal Home Loan Bank”™s affordable housing program will kick in $795,000 administered through Provident Bank.
Low income tax credits from the NYS Department of Housing & Community Renewal will be enhanced by a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program from the town of Ramapo to further jumpstart Spring Valley”™s economic renewal.
Both Rockland County”™s Office of Community Development and Empire State Development provided funding to help acquire 22 blighted downtown properties, which were officially transferred to the development group in February. Those blighted sites will eventually become the Spring Valley Senior Apartments and the Spring Family Apartments.
After the April 15 groundbreaking ceremony, village of Spring Valley Mayor Charles Darden declared, “Spring Valley is on the move.”
Across the street from the groundbreaking site, another empty lot is scheduled to be transformed into 72 units of affordable family housing and to offer 11,000 square feet of commercial space. CPC Resources estimates the cost of that project to be $29 million.
Yet another boost to the sagging downtown area will be seven market-rate townhouses scheduled to be built behind the 55-and-over apartment building.
The village, which received a $2.5 million grant in early 2008 as part of the Restore New York funding, is using that money to aid in the development of Spring Valley”™s downtown.
“Yes, we are definitely on the move,” said Darden enthusiastically. “These projects will rejuvenate downtown, upgrade our housing stock and transform the village”™s future.” Darden said the investment in Spring Valley is a “strong vote of confidence for the community.”
