Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Buildings on Creston Avenue in University Heights to get makeover from Workforce Housing Advisors

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS - Several buildings in University Heights will receive makeovers as a result of grants from various city organizations.
Four buildings on Creston Avenue will be improved after years of tenants living in poor conditions. Workforce Housing Advisors, a for-profit developer of affordable housing, took over the properties in 2012. 
Full Story HERE
Courtesy of News12 The Bronx

Friday, July 12, 2013

4 Distressed Bronx Buildings to get $28.6M Rehab

City brokers deal to finance 18 months worth of major work at the badly-deteriorated properties that boast a total of 120 apartments in the borough’s University
Heights section.

Four distressed Bronx buildings will be undergoing long-overdue renovations, thanks to a financing deal the city brokered with the buildings’ new owner.

The buildings, located at 2239, 2241, 2323 and 2333 Creston Ave. in the University Heights section of the Bronx, were all in the city’s Alternative Enforcement Program, which targets 200 especially distressed buildings every year. Workforce Housing Advisors, a for-profit developer of affordable housing, took over the properties in 2012, after the previous owners had racked up more than 1,000 violations and defaulted on their mortgage.

The rehabilitation will cost about $28.6 million, which comes from a combination of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, city Department of Housing Preservation and Development loans, city Housing Development Corp. bonds and Reso-A funding secured by the City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

“The preservation of four distressed Creston Avenue homes shows what it is possible when tenants, organizers, banks, developers and the City work together to bring positive changes to their communities,” said Ms. Quinn in a press release.

JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are the Letter of Credit providers.

“This is a great resolution both on the advocacy side and the finance side,” said John Crotty, a founding member of Workforce Housing Advisors.

Rehabilitation of the four buildings, which have a total of 120 apartments, will begin this summer. The work will include installation of a new roof, new boilers, new plumbing, leveling apartment floors and installing beams. The process is expected to take about 18 months, during which time the tenants will be housed elsewhere.

“To be able to have a really responsible, preservation-minded developer, in addition to stabilizing the neighborhood, it gets these tenants out of a cycle of irresponsible ownership. It gets tenants ownership they can trust,” said a spokesman for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The building’s deteriorating condition led to high vacancy – 41 of the 120 units were empty, said Sara Dabbs, a director at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Once the rehabilitation is complete, those apartments will be rented to families earning up to $51,000 for a family of four.

Current tenants will not see a rent increase, she said.