Architect’s rendering of the proposed senior housing project LONG BRANCH — Although there was concern over a lack of parking, the city Planning Board has endorsed a preliminary plan to convert the former Gregory School building into senior housing.
Representatives of the Long Branch Housing Authority at the June 21 meeting presented the redevelopment plan, with Assistant Planning Director Carl Turner expressing some concern over the 71 parking spaces for the 116-unit proposal.
“It’s a great project, but parking can be a problem,” he said. “That neighborhood is not conducive to street parking.
“What I’d like to see is some study done on this because after the fact, it’s going to be too late.”
Turner suggested a few options to try to add more parking spaces on-site.
“Have you looked at the potential of doing diagonal parking on Seventh Avenue as opposed to parallel parking?” he asked. “The road is wide enough; whether it can be done froma traffic safety angle, I don’t know.
“Another option is you create some sort of management operation for parking, so there is assigned parking, so not everyone with a unit in that facility can have the right to a parking spot,” he added.
LBHA Executive Director Tyrone Garrett said that when the authority purchased the land from the city, it set the minimum amount of units at 100, so the plan cannot eliminate many units to add parking.
According to Garrett, the two other senior housing units, Kennedy Towers and the Chester A. Arthur housing, have more parking spaces than are being utilized.
“One thing you need to consider is this is a senior building, so the number of vehicles that are going to be coming in and out or staying overnight will be very limited,” he said. “We don’t even use a third of the spaces we have.”
However, Garrett said that the parking plan would be reconfigured and he will meet with Turner in a few weeks.
He also said that the low-income housing project is currently projected to cost $13 million, but most of the funding will come from the state. The project would be built in two phases.
“This is a capital improvement project where we are going to be using at least $400,000 of Replacement Housing Factor money given to us by Department of Housing and Urban Development,” Garrett said.
“In addition, where we make up the leverage funding for the completion of the project would be through the New Jersey state tax credit program [Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency],” he added.
He said that the authority would likely know by the end of the year if the request for funds is successful.
Garrett also explained that he is looking at a historic designation for the circa-1924 site, which would provide a backup plan for funding.
“That historic designation will give us the opportunities to access historic tax credits in the event that the state program doesn’t fund us fully,” he said.
Community and Supportive Services caseworker Christopher Pugliese presented the proposal to the board and said that the plan is to maintain and expand the existing structure.
“We will be rehabbing and maintaining the original building in the conversion of the building,” he said. “We will also be adding an addition along Joline Avenue [that] is a four-story building.”
The current plan is that the 116 units would be mostly one-bedroom units ranging from 700 to 800 square feet.
Pugliese explained in an interview last week that the project would be built in two phases.
The first phase would include 65 units. This phase involves rehabilitating the former school building and an addition built in the 1950s. This phase also calls for construction of a four-story building connected to those structures. All three will share a courtyard space.
The second phase would involve construction of an additional building containing 51 units and could include commercial space, Pugliese said.
Garrett said some of the amenities that would be included are a range, microwave, refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer.
However, he said that a lot of the appliances probably wouldn’t be used much.
“You have to keep in mind that it is a senior building, so some of these amenities are not necessarily going to be utilized,” Garrett said.
“We are going to be looking for assistance from various providers in the area to bring ‘meals on wheels’ and things like that,” he added. “Although the amenities will be there for the seniors, at least a third of them will not partake in the utilization of them because a lot of things will be brought in for them.”
The plan will also convert the school auditorium into common space.
“We are going to maintain the auditorium, but we are also going to convert it into a living area,” Pugliese said. “The stage will actually have chairs, tables and actually be a living room.
“We will also be able to convert it back into a stage if there is a production or some sort of entertainment for the seniors.”
Garrett said one of the goals is to give the seniors a chance to socialize.
“We want to encourage the seniors to come out of their rooms and have somewhere to go,” he said. “We are going to keep that space and make it comfortable and livable.”
Pugliese explained that the authority has met with City Planner Pratap Talwar about various concerns .
He said trees and shrubbery were either saved or added to address some of Talwar’s concerns.
Pugliese said the current plan is to start construction next year if the Planning Board approves the plan and financing sources are secured.
“It will hopefully start in 2012, but that is subject to financial approvals,” he said.
He also explained that the project does not have a formal name yet and that it is being developed by four different entities.
“It is the Long Branch Housing Authority, Maestro Community Development, which is our subsidiary, and then Conifer Realty and the Metro Company, which are our co-developers,” Pugliese said.
Conifer Realty is a real estate company specializing in the development and management of affordable housing communities, and the Metro Company is a real estate company involved in planning, housing, finance and development.
After the presentation, the board unanimously voted to endorse the plan and send it to the City Council, despite the concerns over parking.
The housing authority first presented informal plans for the site in March after purchasing the building from the city in 2009.
The Gregory School, located on North Seventh Avenue, was built in 1924 and closed in 2006 when the Long Branch School District constructed a new Gregory School on Wilbur Ray Boulevard. The city purchased the site and has since sold it to the LBHA. Contact Kenny Walter at [email protected].