Spring Valley housing project breaks ground
Before megamalls lured buyers from the downtowns, Main Street was the place to shop, dine, walk and perhaps most importantly, reinforce a community relationship. Spring Valley was one of those villages that lost population and popularity as the now-defunct Nanuet Mall and the busy Route 59 corridor shuttered businesses. Now, it”™s fighting back.
More than a dozen officials from the state, county and local offices, as well as representatives from the public sector, finally had their day in the sun: on Feb. 23, after nearly five years of delays and obstacles to overcome, ground was broken for a 55-unit affordable family rental building on Spring Valley”™s North Main Street.
Funding for the $16 million project came from a variety of sources, both public and private. “This project was stalled for many years,” said Mayor Noramie Jasmin, who pledged during her 2009 campaign the housing project would be “the very first priority on my list.”
Jasmin asked state and county leaders to “keep this village in your prayers. We want Spring Valley to be a leader in the county. We have 42 ethnic groups here living in harmony and we want to keep it that way. This is going to help further the economic revitalization of our downtown area.”
The complex will have 7,000 square feet of commercial retail space on the street level to encourage new business to move into the area. The building, scheduled to open in mid-summer 2012, complements the existing Spring Valley Senior Housing Apartments across the street, which also offers commercial space along the village”™s North Main Street corridor.
Financing for the project is being made available through a public-private partnership which includes tax exempt bonds issued by New York State Homes and Community Renewal; tax credit equity provided by PNC Bank in the sum of $5 million; a loan from the village of Spring Valley; a tax abatement from the town of Ramapo; funds from Rockland”™s Office of Community Development and funding from Empire State Development”™s Restore New York program. Tax-exempt bonds will be served and credit enhanced by JPMorgan Chase during construction of the project.
“This was truly a collaborative effort,” said Susan Jaffee, executive director of the mid-Hudson region”™s ESD office. “It”™s exactly the kind of investment New York wants to see ”“ a public-private partnership, the kind of partnerships that ESD loves to see making things happen here in our state.”
A third phase for the Spring Valley”™s downtown revitalization will be town homes, But for right now, there was cause for celebration that the 55-unit affordable rental complex had broken ground.
“The Nanuet Mall doesn”™t know what to do with its space ”“ and the Palisades Mall has no place to park,” Rockland County Legislator Philip Soskin said. “This is the opportune moment to revitalize our downtown areas and create the walkable communities people left and are now longing to return to.”