A rendering of the new Long Branch Housing Authority Presidential Estates affordable housing complex, which replaces the old Grant Court building. LONG BRANCH – Residents will move into the newly constructed Grant Court affordable housing complex as soon as next month, Long Branch Housing Authority (LBHA) Executive Director Tyrone Garrett said.
The 70-unit housing complex, now called Presidential Estates Townhouse community, marks the second housing authority building to be reconstructed in the city in the past two years, according to Garrett.
A third affordable housing complex is set to be re-built and open by December 2008, Garret said.
“Grant Court was always the complex that needed to be demolished and replaced because of the infrastructure,” said Garrett last week. “It was deemed as a complex in need of rehabilitation.
“I just want all the projects to be complete and have residents returned to their homes,” he added.
The estimated $20 million Grant Court project on the corner of Liberty Street and Central Avenue began in December 2006, according to Garrett, who said that 12 months later the housing authority achieved its goal.
“We are just finishing up installing the electrical meters now and then we will start going for certificates of occupancy in the next two weeks,” Garrett said. “We want to see residents in the units starting next month.”
The project was constructed by Pennrose Properties of Philadelphia and funded through various sources, according to Garrett.
The LBHA was awarded $13 million in tax credits with an additional $2 million in balanced housing/home express funds, according to Garrett.
An additional $1 million for the project came from Hope VI funds, another $750,000 from a Monmouth County affordable housing grant and $385,000 through a Federal Bank of New York Home Loan, Garrett said.
The rental units at the new complex will be offered to residents displaced from the original Grant Court complex during construction and then the authority will open the units to the community, Garrett explained.
In order to qualify for a unit, Garrett said a household income for a family of four can not exceed $40,950; a family of three, $36,850; a family of two, $32,750 and a family of one, $28,650.
“To qualify for housing is based on income,” Garrett said. “The monthly rent for the units is base on 30 percent of the household annual income of the family.
“That is what keeps the units affordable,” he added.
The original Grant Court building was constructed in 1943 and was suffering “severe” infrastructure problems, according to Garrett.
“There was decaying clay and problems with the sewer and water lines,” Garrett said. “There comes a point in time when you have to ask if it is more cost efficient to patch work or replace an entire project.
“When you are talking about infrastructure, there really is no way to patch work,” he said.
The LBHA opened the newly constructed $10.5 million, 40-unit Seaview Manor complex on the corner of Seaview and Ellis avenues last December, according to Garrett.
Plans now are under way for a new Garfield Court affordable housing project to be constructed on the corner of Rockwell and Central avenues, Garrett said.
The first phase of the project is estimated to cost approximately $21 million and calls for the current 162-unit structure to be demolished and replaced with 67 units.
It is planned to be complete by December 2008, Garrett said.
The second phase will include the construction of 73 more units, for a total of 140 housing units, and is estimated to cost $20 million, according to Garrett.
There will also be a fourth and fifth phase, according to Garrett, who said plans for the final phases will include a community center.
“The Authority is busy locating residents of Garfield Court in preparation for the revitalization of the complex,” Garrett said. “We have only just begun.
“We are working to be complete by the 2011,” he said.