BRONX GETS NEW PLAYERS IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING

A 75-unit complex in the Bronx Park South neighborhood will be purchased and renovated in a $15 million deal financed by a city bonds program.

Theresa Agovino
Published: July 7, 2011 – 1:45 pm

A newly formed partnership dedicated to preserving affordable housing in the city made its first purchase: a 75-unit complex in the Bronx for $9.8 million.

Preservation Development Partners will spend another $3 million to renovate the Trinity Apartments at 2105 Daly Ave. in the Bronx Park South section of the borough. The work, which will take about a year, will include repairing or replacing roofs, boilers, compactors, flooring and facades.

Francine Kellman, a principal at Preservation Development, said the firm’s five partners, each with experience in affordable housing circles, are looking at several other deals and hope to make one or two more purchases by year’s end.

“We want to help low-income people live in a decent place,” said Ms. Kellman, a veteran rehabber who helped form Preservation Development in February. “We have an opportunity to make a profit and help people as well. You can’t beat that.”

The Bronx purchase was funded under the city’s New Housing Marketplace Plan, an $8.4 billion initiative launched in 2003 to preserve affordable housing. The program has already funded the creation or preservation of 124,000 housing units, including more than 2,800 in the Bronx community where the Trinity Apartments are located. By 2014, the program is slated to have financed 165,000 units of affordable housing for 500,000 New Yorkers.

The Trinity Apartments deal was financed by $9.9 million in bonds issued under New Housing Marketplace, which is run by the city’s Housing Development Corp. An additional $5.3 million was raised through a low-income housing tax credit program involving Wells Fargo and Freddie Mac. The excess is expected to cover any additional renovation costs as well as closing costs and legal fees.

“Trinity Apartments is emblematic of the kind of preservation financing that HDC provides,” said Joan Tally, executive vice president for real estate at the Housing Development Corp., in a statement. “We use tax-exempt bond financing and federal low-income housing tax credits to fund the rehabilitation and upgrade of the building while also securing 30 years of affordability, all without additional city subsidies.”

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110707/REAL_ESTATE/110709956