Richard Gerentine
Perhaps the best business proposition is doing well by doing good. By that measure, Golden View senior residence in Highland is a success in itself and may serve as a model for the future.
The $9.6 million Golden View is a 46,000-square-foot, two-story apartment building with two long wings holding 51 single-bed units for income-eligible people age 55 and older. It opened in January 2008. “Within two months it was fully rented, it sells itself,” said Richard Gerentine, co-owner of the project along with the project builder Joel Mounty of Mountco Construction. The project now has a waiting list.
The building has an airy feel to it, with a high ceiling in the grand foyer and windows looking out on landscaping and nearby hillsides. Each apartment has its own patio or porch tucked onto the side of the building. The second floor is accessible by elevator. There are onsite laundry and community rooms and the project is adjacent a Hannaford”™s shopping plaza.Â
Gerentine is an Ulster County legislator from Marlboro and former chairman of the county Legislature. Golden View is his third affordable senior housing project. His two other projects are in Marlboro: Jenny”™s Garden opened in 1998 and Jenny”™s Garden II opened in 2004. Together they total 66 units of senior affordable housing for ages 62 or more.
All three projects were built and operate under strict oversight from state officials who award tax breaks to developers that make it financially viable to provide rentals on a sliding scale for those with annual income of $30,000 or less. For Golden View the rents range between $325 and $600 monthly, including heat and hot water.
“There is always a need for affordable housing, even more so with economy the way it is,” said Gerentine. “I”™m very proud of what we have done here; it is a quality final product that is very affordable.
“This gives the tenant an opportunity to live on their own in a comfortable setting that”™s affordable,” said Gerentine. “That”™s important; no one wants to burden children. This is needed in the community and it”™s a valuable asset. It gives people a sense of belonging.”
He said that all three of his projects are rented primarily to residents who have lived in the Highland or Marlboro areas for their adult lives and did not want to move away or some who had family in those towns and moved to be in a familiar community. Â
The Golden View complex itself is a community, “People get together in the community room, bingo, movie night ”¦ they do many different things as a group,” said Gerentine. “You can participate or not participate as you choose.”
Gerentine said the oldest resident in the apartments is in his late 80s and estimated the average age of residents at around 72. He said the residents must be self-sufficient and meet financial eligibility requirements, which are checked by a third party as part of the contracts for lease.
The need for senior affordable housing is acute. As part of the application for tax breaks, Gerentine said the project hired Saccardi and Schiff of White Plains who found there was a need for roughly 375 senior affordable units in the Highland area and a supply of fewer than 150.
In recent years, developers have begun meeting the need for senior units, partially because such proposals suffer less opposition than ordinary affordable or “worker” housing because seniors do not send kids to the public schools.
But still it is a rigorous process to receive state funding from a limited pool of resources which draws applications from all over the state. If a project is accepted for the subsidizing, the units must stay affordable for between 30 and 50 years.
As an idea of the complexity of the process, he showed off a binder almost six inches thick with market studies and other data on area demographic data, a financing and rental plan and other information. The Jenny projects are for persons aged 62 and up while Golden View accepts people over 55. Gerentine said such decisions are balancing acts for the developer who presents them to the state, which then decides what projects deserve tax breaks according to a points system.Â
The Jenny projects were built in four separate units on a single piece of property, while Golden View is one large building.
“Economics doesn”™t allow me to build the way I did,” said Gerentine. “I own the architectural plans for Jenny”™s Garden, but I”™ll probably never put them into effect again.”Â
He said he has applied for funding for his next project, Milton Harbor in Milton, which he said would be identical to Golden View, except with only 47 units. He said the scale of economics involved in one sewer and water system, one heating system, makes a huge cost difference versus running multiple such systems.
There is a need for housing beyond the income range he serves, said Gerentine, saying that seniors with income totaling of up to $50,000 annually are having trouble finding affordable housing in the Hudson Valley. “You need more of this type of housing and also for the next level of income, whatever that might be,” he said.
