A groundbreaking ceremony was held Oct. 12 for La Mora Senior Apartments, an affordable housing project to be built on a plot of land in Yonkers where the city’s Longfellow School once stood at 23 Mulberry St. The school was closed in the mid-1970s and the abandoned building was demolished in 2015.
The new building is slated to contain 60 apartments including 57 one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units. The plans call for 30 on-site parking spaces. The building is to be just under 52 feet tall, within the maximum of 65 feet that is permitted in the area.
All 60 rental apartments will be priced to be affordable to residents aged 62 and older with incomes at or below 60% of the Area Median Income.Â
The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers (MHACY) is developing the project with the Mulford Corporation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit development corporation formed by MHACY in 2004.Â
The building is designed to be energy efficient with a reduced carbon footprint. It will use Energy Star appliances, individual high-efficiency electric heat and cooling, and LED lighting. The building will have dual-pane insulated windows. An emergency generator will ensure that the building systems remain operable in the event of a blackout. Amenities include indoor and outdoor common areas for residents.
State financing for La Mora Senior Apartments includes $17 million in permanent tax-exempt bonds, Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits that will generate $17.7 million in equity, and $9.1 million in subsidy from New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will provide $240,000. Westchester County is providing $3.4 million from the Housing Implementation Fund and the City of Yonkers is providing $650,000 in HOME funds. MHACY provided a $2.6 million loan.  Â
Wilson Kimball, MHACY president and CEO, told the gathering of city, county, state and community leaders on hand for the groundbreaking, “We love and appreciate our seniors. We believe that they should be able to age in place and we believe that they should be able to age with grace and dignity.”
Mayor Mike Spano said that Yonkers continues to grow and attract new development but the city wants to ensure that it provides quality housing for everyone, including its senior citizens. Spano pointed out that it cost the city $1 million just to demolish the school and create the open piece of land that it hoped someday would be redeveloped.
“Investing in good quality affordable housing is not just our privilege, but it’s an obligation that we all have,” Spano said. “We are building a stronger, a more sustainable community for all of our residents and thanks to the support of our federal, state, private and our local community partners I’m proud to say that in less than two years time you’ll come by here and see this wonderful building here filled with people from our community, people who want to stay here in Yonkers and live out their golden years.”
Westchester County Executive George Latimer described La Mora as a prime example of the good that can be done when various levels of government cooperate with each other.
 “There isn’t a week that goes by that Yonkers doesn’t have an idea and they call on the county and the county says, ‘yes, it’s a good idea to have a park down by the river in the Ludlow section of town; yes, we will make improvements to Sprain Ridge and Tibbetts’ and so forth and that enhances what the city is doing,” Latimer said. “This is what we should be striving for everyday in government.”
HCR Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas said, “La Mora Senior Apartments continues our investment in expanding the supply of quality affordable homes in Yonkers, with over 2,400 new homes created over the last five years.”
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Yonkers said, “This is the expression of an acknowledgement of the need that exists not only here but around the state, but not everybody has the partnerships that we have here with our municipal housing and its board and the mayor, with the city council, with the county legislature, with people who understand that this community will only grow and will only be judged by how we take care of those who actually need us to take care of them.”
