The White Plains Housing Authority and its development partner Trinity Financial have been working on assembling the financing needed to proceed with Phase 3 of the redevelopment of the former Winbrook Housing as Brookfield Commons. Under the plan, the original Winbrook apartment buildings are being replaced one at a time with new structures. Two new buildings are operational so far and Phase 3 would involve construction of a new L-shaped building with 168 affordable housing units that complements the existing new buildings named Overture and Prelude.
In response to a request from Denise Brooks, executive director of the White Plains Housing Authority, the White Plains Common Council has provided a $2,750,000 grant from the city’s Affordable Housing Assistance Fund as part of the Phase 3 financing package.
“Use of the fund to support hard construction costs of affordable housing developments for low and moderate income households is consistent with the goals and objectives of the city’s Affordable Housing Guidelines and the recently adopted One White Plains Comprehensive Plan,” White Plains Planning Commissioner Christopher Gomez said.
In asking for the grant, Brooks said, “As the Common Council is aware, financing affordable housing projects requires coordination between New York state, Westchester County and the city. Along with our development partner, Trinity Financial, Inc., the Phase 3 project team secured $8.134 Million in bonds from the Westchester County Housing Implementation Fund II to finance infrastructure improvements for Phase 3. Additional funding is expected from a New York State Housing Finance Agency first mortgage, a New York State Homes and Community Renewal subsidy, Federal and State Low Income Housing tax credits, New York State Brownfield tax credits, and a Westchester County Housing Flex Fund subsidy.”
Brooks said that while each of the funding sources is being leveraged to the maximum allowable amount, a critical gap in funding remained and that’s why the request was made for funding from the city’s Affordable Housing Assistance Fund.
Money from the fund can be used for land acquisition costs, project development costs and project construction costs.
An existing nine-story building at 159 S. Lexington Ave. would be demolished to make way for the Phase 3 structure. The new building would be 11 stories and in addition to the 168 apartments would have 2,130 square feet of community facility space. The project would have 63 at-grade parking spaces. The unit breakdown includes 67 one-bedroom apartments, 83 two-bedroom units, 15 three-bedroom units, 2 four-bedroom units and 1 superintendent’s unit. Amenities will include a fitness room, game room, a tenant lounge, and a large landscaped roof terrace.
