Shown (from left) are: city manager Charles Strome; MacQuesten managing director Joseph Apicella; Jane Silverman, executive director of community development banking for Chase; councilman Jared Rice; Greg Watson, assistant regional commissioner of NYS HCR; mayor Noam Bramson; MacQuesten president Rella Fogliano; state senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins; Municipal Housing Authority executive director Steven Horton; Dominick Buffa, managing director of First Sterling Financial; councilman Barry Fertel; commissioner of development Luiz Aragon; Jay Wegimont representing U.S. congressman Eliot Engel; Tyrae Woodson-Samuels representing U.S. congressman Eliot Engel; and MacQuesten project manager Kurt Purves.New Rochelle, NY MacQuesten Development, LLC, in partnership with the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority and New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), celebrated a pair of milestones at the Heritage Homes complex, a three-phase development along Brook St. and Winthrop Ave. involving the construction of 228 affordable apartments and townhouses on the former site of the Hartley Houses public housing project.
The celebration, attended by state, county and city officials, began with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Heritage Homes Phase II, which has added 56 affordable housing units to the 131 phase I units completed in 2013. Following the phase II ribbon-cutting, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for Heritage Homes phase III, which will add another 41 affordable units. Joseph Apicella, managing director of MacQuesten Development, was master of ceremonies for the program.
“I am passionate about building quality affordable housing and being a catalyst for downtown economic development,” said Rella Fogliano, president of MacQuesten Development. “This project has reached a milestone, and we are pleased to celebrate the completion of 187 of the 228 homes that are planned as well as break ground on our final phase. Our partners, the New Rochelle Housing Authority and NYS Homes and Community Renewal, helped to make this award-winning project a reality, and I feel fortunate to be a part of this public/private venture.”
“Heritage Homes has already strengthened our community and made a positive difference in hundreds of lives. As we wrap up phase II and look ahead to phase III, this is a good moment to celebrate the spirit of inclusion and equity that has always defined New Rochelle and that makes us so proud of this transformational development,” said mayor Noam Bramson.
The Heritage Homes project replaces the Hartley Houses, a five-building, high-density public housing complex that was managed by the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority and built in the 1940s. Construction has been completed in phases so as not to adversely affect residents of the Hartley Houses. Eligible Hartley Houses residents were relocated into 129 of the 130 available phase I units (one apartment was set aside for a live-in superintendent). And, Hartley Houses residents have been relocated into 32 of the 56 Phase II units. Hartley Houses residents who do not wish to relocate into Heritage Homes units have the option to relocate to other public housing facilities.
NYS Homes and Community Renewal commissioner James Rubin said, “By replacing a dated public housing complex with sustainable, safe housing, Heritage Homes not only offers modern, affordable high quality homes for New Rochelle residents, but it is also transforming the entire community. Under governor Cuomo’s leadership, New York is investing in extensive housing and revitalization projects like this that are addressing the affordable housing crisis around the state and making New York a better place for families.”
NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) consists of the state’s major housing and community renewal agencies, including the Affordable Housing Corporation, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the Housing Finance Agency, State of New York Mortgage Agency, Housing Trust Fund Corporation and others. HCR is in the fourth year of governor Cuomo’s $1 billion House New York program, which is aimed at creating thousands of new units over five years and is the largest investment in affordable housing in at least 15 years. The House New York initiative builds on the successes of unprecedented efforts to protect more than two million rent-regulated tenants, with the greatest strengthening of the state’s rent laws in 30 years, and the creation of the Tenant Protection Unit, which proactively audits and investigates landlord wrongdoing.
“Heritage Homes represents a successful collaboration between the public and private sectors,” said Steve Horton, executive director of the New Rochelle Housing Authority. “In an era of strained public resources, these partnerships are essential if housing authorities are going to fulfill their mission to develop and preserve affordable housing.”
Phase II, a $20 million project, features five townhouse-style clusters of two and three-bedroom units. Amenities include a laundry room, community room, bamboo floors, Energy Star appliances, windows and lighting, and 77 parking spaces. Phase III, an $18 million project comprising two and three-bedroom units, will have its own laundry facility, community room, outdoor recreation space, Energy Star efficiencies and 71 parking spaces.
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