Construction on the first two phases of the Woodrow Wilson public housing complex in Long Branch is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The Long Branch Housing Authority announced plans last week to seek funding for the third phase of the project, which will include 52 mixed-income townhouse units. KENNY WALTER LONG BRANCH — The Long Branch Housing Authority (LBHA) is moving ahead with plans to construct the final phase of the mixed-income Woodrow Wilson housing redevelopment project.
When completed, the 52 units to be constructed will generate more than $27,000 in tax revenues, according to Chris Pugliese, aide to LBHA Executive Director Tyrone Garrett.
“As was the case with the previous phases, there is a PILOT [payment in lieu of taxes],” he said. “In 2012, the city made zero dollars off the Woodrow Wilson homes site.”
“In Year 1 after completion of Phase III of Woodrow Wilson homes, the PILOT will allow the city to get an estimated $27,703 in revenues,” he added. “In Year 30 of the project, it will be an estimated $49,197 [per year] in revenue.”
During the April 23 City Council workshop meeting, the council approved a resolution finalizing the PILOT for Phase III, which will be developed by LBHA subsidiary Maestro Development and Pennrose Properties LLC, a Pennsylvania-based development company.
Pugliese explained the scope of Phase III.
“It will be a truly mixed-income community with 52 total units,” he said. “Five of those units will be market-rate, 12 will be traditional public housing units, and the other 37 will be affordable tax credit units that float between 30 and 60 percent of the median income.”
The third phase of the housing project will be constructed at the southeast corner of the complex, on the corner of Wardell Place and West End Avenue.
The first two phases of the project are 40 percent completed, he said.
“Phase I is 65 units, and Phase II is 57 units,” he told the council. “Your support on the previous two phases has allowed us to get two NJ HMFA [Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency] tax credit awards for funding. Both of those phases are currently under construction and about 40 percent complete.”
He also provided projected revenue figures the city would receive once all three phases of the project are complete.
“If you take all three phases of the project combined, the first year the city would be garnering an estimated $98,998; in Year 30, an estimated $177,947,” Pugliese said.
Pugliese described the former Woodrow Wilson Homes as “brick barrack town houses built in 1952.”
Last year, the authority secured $16 in tax credits for Phase II, which was coupled with the $14 million in tax credits received in 2011 for the first phase.
Private investors in the projects will receive the tax credits over a period of 10 years.
Pugliese said the authority is applying for a $3.45 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by May 15, and for $9.5 million in low-income tax credit funds by June 21.
“We are quite confident [that] with your support, we should be able to achieve both funding allocations,” he said.
When completed, the site will provide housing for more families than the previous housing development.
“It is a denser site,” Pugliese said. “The total of the three phases is set to be 174 units; the old Woodrow Wilson was 136.
“At the time that we [demolished] it, there was only about 103 families that we had to relocate.”
With the first two phases almost halfway done, the authority would begin accepting rental applications this summer, according to Daniel Gibson, LBHA chief of staff.
“We have set the first week of July as the beginning of circulating applications for Phases I and II,” he said. “They will be leased simultaneously, although they are individual sites.”
According to Gibson, tenants won’t be living at the housing project until the end of 2013.
“We have an approximate date — probably it would be around the beginning of November to December before we would actually be moving [tenants] in,” he said. “That depends on the contractors.”
Phase I of the Woodrow Wilson demolition and redevelopment project began at the northeast corner of High Street. All residents of the development were awarded Section 8 housing vouchers from HUD to help with relocation costs.
According to Gibson, the former Woodrow Wilson tenants will be given the first shot at moving back.
“They have the first right to refusal; we will send out a notice,” he said. “We know where everyone is at, we will send them a notice, and they will indicate ‘yes’ or ‘no’ that they want to return.
“If they say ‘no’, then we will send out another notice and assume that first note was just a knee-jerk reaction. We will give them time to reconsider, and if they say ‘no,’ they are out.”
Tenants who want to move back to the housing complex must meet the requirements of the lease.
“An applicant has to undergo a criminal background check, as well as a credit check,” Gibson said. “Most of the time, the credit check for former residents is waived.
While the former Woodrow Wilson residents will have the first choice for the new housing, Gibson said it is likely that there will be some new tenants.
“If the past is any indicator as to what we can expect, somewhere around 60-65 percent of the residents will be new,” Gibson said. “There will be many of the former residents who will elect not to return to Woodrow Wilson.
“There will be ample opportunity for folks to move in and that is probably a good thing.”
The Woodrow Wilson redevelopment is one of two housing projects the authority is currently constructing. Another project underway is the refurbishing of the former Gregory School building into senior housing.