NORWICH – A special meeting was called by the Norwich Common Council Tuesday to hear a residential management company present plans to build affordable housing in the State Street neighborhood.
Two Plus Four Management Inc. of Syracuse is teaming up with the city and Chenango County ARC to build an affordable housing complex with a total 34 apartments comprised of 20 two-bedrooms, eight three-bedrooms, two one-bedrooms, and four town houses to that area.
The $7 million multi-faceted community development project calls for the purchase and demolition of four adjacent dilapidated properties at addresses 5, 5a, 7 and 7a on State Street. In July, the ARC plans to submit an application to New York’s Office of Community Renewal for grant funding through the state agency’s Rural Area Revitalization Program. This funding would be used for the purchase and demolition of the four properties – three of which the city owns.
Negotiations for acquisition are currently underway between the ARC and the holder of the fourth property, which is privately owned.
After leveling the four properties, ARC would then turn them over to a development branch of the Two Plus Four Management to build four, two-bedroom town houses on the site.
In addition, Two Plus Four Management is working toward the purchase of two acres of vacant property (once used as the parking lot for the Norwich Shoe Company) that borders the four aforementioned properties and has road frontage along State an Mitchell streets. The empty lot would be used for the construction of a two-story, 28 apartment building, along with a separate two-unit senior building, and a nearby community center and playground – all of which would be financed through the New York State Housing Trust Fund HOME program and a low income housing tax credit program.
In order to move forward with the project, the city needs to take the first step. Presently, the neighborhood bordering the corner of State and Mitchel streets – including the vacant lot and four properties to be demolished – is an IN (industry) zone. The council has set a public hearing for 7 p.m. on June 19 for changing the zoning from IN to a R-2 (single-family to multi residential) zone.
The project has received a great deal of support among city officials. Success stories of a similar project undertaken in the City of Auburn and other cities statewide indicate promising efforts in Norwich, according to Two Plus Four President Susan Kimmel, who explained the affordable housing project to the council Tuesday and received approval from the city’s planning commission when she pitched the planning process to them in May.
“I think it’s a great use for that area,” she told the council. “It will be a shot in the arm for Norwich; a re-birth.”
Ward One Alderman Robert Carey agreed, saying, “It’s a great project.”
Fourth Ward Alderman Walter Schermerhorn said the development would be “good for the area” and “in the scope of what we’re trying to do for the city.”
According to the city, Chenango ARC and Two Plus Four Management, the purpose of this community development initiative is to remove neighborhood blight, create new affordable housing opportunities and increase property values. If plans go accordingly, ground breaking for the project will be in April, 2013 and the residences would be finished and ready for occupancy by April, 2014.