NORWICH – After more than eight years of planning and pushing, bids for construction on the Brown Avenue Housing Project have been accepted and work may finally get underway.
The Norwich Housing Authority recently accepted a bid from Richard W. Wakeman, a Sidney-based contractor, to build the first of six duplex structures. The Brown Ave. plan calls for the construction of 12 housing units, two per structure, at the former site of the Brown Avenue Bowling Alley. The units will be geared toward seniors. Each unit will be approximately 1,000 to 1,100 square feet, have two bedrooms built on a single story and be handicap accessible.
According to Judy Wingate-Wade, executive director of the Norwich Housing Authority, one of the reasons the project has taken so long is because of the cost of construction. “Our intent has always been to make the houses affordable. This is the third round of bidding, because we were trying to find ways to get the costs down,” Wingate-Wade said. However, after three rounds of bidding and little change in costs, Wingate-Wade said this time, the bid has been accepted. “This time we feel we need to get the ball rolling,” she said.
The accepted bid for the completion of one building, made up of two units, carries a cost of approximately $283,300, which amounts to approximately $141,650 per unit. Up to $50,000 of the price will be subsidized by a grant given to the Norwich Housing Authority by the New York State Housing Trust Fund Corporation, however, due to the target audience for the housing, Wingate-Wade said she feels the price is still too high. The homes are intended to be marketed toward senior citizens with an annual income of $29,500 for a single person, or $33,700 for couples.
“I’d like to see more subsidies all the way around,” Wingate-Wade said. In an effort to do that, the Norwich Housing Authority has been working with City of Norwich Community and Economic Development Specialist Todd Dreyer in hopes of applying for a grant to allow for more subsidies. Due to the nature of the grant, the city must apply for the funding on behalf of the Norwich Housing Authority.
Dreyer explained the application for the Office of Small Cities Grant would most likely request $30,000 per unit. “We’re seeking funding that will provide supplements to the subsidies already in place to make the houses more affordable to senior citizens,” Dreyer explained. The City of Norwich didn’t have a qualifying project of their own in mind for the grant this year. “This looked like at attractive program to assist the Housing Authority in moving forward,” Dreyer said.
The grant application is due by April 21. Dreyer could not say when notification of funding would be received; however the Norwich Housing Authority is planning to move forward with construction whether or not the grant is received. Construction should start as soon as the weather breaks.