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HDC Press Releases
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August
4, 2009
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HDC, HPD & Jackson Development Celebrate a Milestone: The First Development in the Nation to Use Recycled Bonds
42,000 Affordable Homes Financed by HDC under the Mayor’s New Housing Marketplace Plan
1,803 Jobs to be created
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NEW YORK, NY, August
4th, 2009 – Deputy Mayor
Robert Lieber, joined by
New York City Housing
Development Corporation
(HDC) President Marc
Jahr, New York City
Department of Housing
Preservation and
Development (HPD)
Commissioner Rafael E.
Cestero and Neil
Weissman of the Jackson
Development Group
celebrated the
groundbreaking of St.
Ann’s Terrace, a 600
unit mixed-income
development in the
Melrose section of the
Bronx and the first in
the nation to use
recycled bonds. In
completing financing for
St. Ann’s, HDC President
Jahr noted that HDC has
surpassed its goal of
financing the
construction or
preservation of 42,000
homes under Mayor
Michael R. Bloomberg’s
New Housing Marketplace
Plan. The Five Borough
Economic Opportunity
Plan is a comprehensive
strategy to bring New
York City through the
current economic
downturn as fast as
possible. It focuses on
three major areas:
creating jobs for New
Yorkers today,
implementing a long-term
vision for growing the
city's economy, and
building affordable,
attractive neighborhoods
in every borough. Taken
together, the
initiatives we have
launched to achieve
these goals will
generate thousands of
jobs and put New York
City on a path to
economic recovery and
growth. Also joining the
Deputy Mayor were Bronx
Borough President Ruben
Diaz, Jr., Council
Member Maria del Carmen
Arroyo and Assembly
Member Carmen E. Arroyo.
The St. Ann’s Terrace
project will redevelop
the largest remaining
vacant parcel of land in
the Melrose Commons
Urban renewal Area of
the South Bronx. This
three-block parcel of
vacant land will be
transformed into a
mixed-income residential
community with ground
floor retail space and
underground parking. The
site is bordered by St.
Ann’s Avenue, East 156th
Street, Eagle Avenue and
East 159th Street. There
will be approximately
600 residential
apartments, 50,000 sq.
ft. of ground floor
retail and parking
spaces for about 400
cars under several of
the buildings.
Initially, construction
will move forward on six
buildings and about 186
parking spaces. The
total development cost
for these first six
buildings is more than
$169.4 million. An
additional 160 units in
two more buildings, that
will be to the last to
begin construction, as
well as additional
parking, will be
announced at a later
date. The St. Ann’s
Terrace development is a
joint venture between
the Jackson Development
Group and the Joy
Construction
Corporation. Joy
Construction will also
serve the General
Contractor for the
entire Project.
“Creating affordable
communities is a
critical component of
our five borough
economic opportunity
plan and we are
committed to using every
innovative tool at our
disposal in order to
achieve our goal of
creating 165,000
affordable units,” said
Deputy Mayor Robert C.
Lieber. “Once, the South
Bronx was a national
symbol for urban decay
but today we celebrate
the rebirth of a
neighborhood and the
transformation of vacant
land into a thriving
community at St. Ann’s
Terrace. I’d like to
commend resident
leaders, activists,
elected officials and
the community board for
partnering with the City
to create an attractive
and affordable community
families in the Bronx.”
St. Ann’s Terrace is
part of Mayor Michael R.
Bloomberg’s New Housing
Marketplace plan to
build or preserve
165,000 homes for
working-class New
Yorkers by 2014. HDC’s
original promise was to
contribute 42,000 units
under the plan.
“St. Ann’s also
represents the continued
resurgence of the
Bronx,” said HPD
Commissioner Cestero.
“Look around, everywhere
you will see the work of
HPD and HDC and all the
partners here today. As
our neighborhoods
struggle in this
economy, this kind of
project not only creates
jobs and badly needed
affordability. But it
sends a message to all
that we are going
forward, our
neighborhoods will
remain strong and our
economy will back on
track.
“St. Ann’s Terrace is a
meaningful project in so
many ways – first, it
will contribute 6oo
affordable homes to this
growing and increasingly
vibrant community –
second, it is the
project that pushed us
over the 42,000 unit
benchmark and third, it
showcases New York
City’s ability to work
with its Congressional
representatives and
create new tools that
can be used to finance
affordable housing,
while increasing our
ability to do more with
existing resources,”
said HDC President Marc
Jahr. “HDC is leading
the nation in creating
innovative funding
mechanisms to leverage
our capital markets,
allowing the City to
preserve tax credit bond
volume cap by recycling
tax-exempt multifamily
bonds that have been
paid off early. The
recycled bonds that are
being put to work here
on this mixed income
project are making it
possible for us to
preserve our tax credit
bonding capacity for
where we really need
it.” HDC has provided
$76.8 million in
tax-exempt and recycled
tax-exempt bonds to fund
St. Ann’s construction
phase. Approximately
$26.3 million will be
from Recycled Bonds and
$50.5 million will be
from Stand Alone
Tax-Exempt Bonds. This
development captures the
essence of our work,”
Said Commissioner
Cestero. “Not only are
we developing much
needed affordable
housing, but we are
contributing to the
continuing
revitalization of
Melrose Commons. With
its mix of income levels
and its thousands of
square feet of ground
floor retail, St. Ann’s
will help to keep
Melrose Commons a
vibrant community where
New Yorkers continue to
be proud to live and
work.”
“The St. Ann’s Terrace
Project represents one
of the largest
private/public
affordable housing
development partnerships
in The Bronx,” said
Bronx Borough President,
Ruben Diaz Jr. “I am
pleased that my office
is funding part of it.
This project will
feature sustainable
design features that
will save energy and
reduce carbon emissions,
making the buildings and
the surrounding
community a healthier
place to live. I look
forward to welcoming the
residents to this
village-like project to
our borough”.
“We are so proud to be
able to work with the
City of New York in the
redevelopment of a 3.5
acre blighted site into
a vibrant mixed income
affordable housing
community” said Neil
Weissman, Principal of
Jackson Development
Group. “In this
difficult financing
environment, the ability
to move forward with a
project like St. Ann’s
Terrace is a testament
to both the public and
private sector’s
commitment to affordable
housing in the Bronx and
in New York City.”
“The construction of St.
Ann’s Terrace, a new 480
unit-mixed income
development and the
first to use recycled
bonds represents a
continuation of the new
renaissance occurring in
the buildings of
multifamily housing in
Bronx Community Board
One,” said George L.
Rodriguez, Chairperson
of Community Board One.
“The project will
provide access to
sustainable affordable
housing for residents of
all income levels.”
Three of the buildings
will house tenants of
mixed-incomes: 80% AMI
($61,450 for a family of
four) and 60% AMI
($46,080 for a family of
four). The 60% units
qualify the project for
tax-exempt recycled
bonds. The project will
include 21 studio units,
48 one-bedroom units, 76
two-bedroom units and 19
three-bedroom units and
two two-bedroom
superintendent’s units.
Buildings C, D and E
will serve low-income
tenants at 60% AMI
($46,080 for a family of
four) and 50% AMI
($38,400 for a family of
four). In addition, the
project will include 51
underground parking
spaces and about
11,300-square-feet of
commercial space.
Foundation work has
begun at the site and
will create about 1,803
jobs. St. Ann’s is
anticipated to be ready
for occupancy in the
late summer of 2011.
NYC Department of
Housing Development
Corporation (HDC)
The New York City
Housing Development
Corporation (HDC)
provides a variety of
financing programs for
the creation and
preservation of
multi-family affordable
housing throughout the
five boroughs of New
York City. Our programs
are designed to meet the
wide-range of affordable
housing needs of the
City's economically
diverse population.
NYC Department of
Housing Preservation and
Development (HPD)
HPD’s mission is to
promote quality housing
and viable neighborhoods
for New Yorkers. It is
the nation’s largest
municipal housing
preservation and
development agency.
Responsible for
implementing Mayor
Bloomberg’s New Housing
Marketplace Plan to
build and preserve
165,000 units of
affordable housing. HPD
also actively promotes
the preservation of
affordable housing
through education,
outreach, loan programs
and enforcement of
housing quality
standards. For more
information, visit
www.nyc.gov/hpd.
Jackson Development
Group (JDG)
A New York based
Development Company that
specializes in
residential
construction. Since
1999, JDG has developed
over 300 homes in and
throughout Brooklyn and
the Bronx. The company
previously developed
approximately 75 new
homes a year and has
recently focused on
developing multi-family
mid-rise buildings in
the Bronx and Eastern
Brooklyn.
Joy Construction
Corporation
A diversified
construction company
with a focus on general
contracting, began its
operations in 1995 with
the rehabilitation of
one commercial space.
During the past 11
years, Joy has grown
exponentially,
completing over a dozen
large-scale construction
projects every year
throughout the New York
Metropolitan area.
About Recycled Bonds:
Short term tax-exempt
bonds are often utilized
to fund the construction
of multifamily housing.
For various reasons,
part of these bonds may
be repaid within four
years of their issuance.
Such repayment may be
due to a mandatory
redemption for tax
reasons or due to an
expectation that such
bonds would be paid from
tax credit equity
contributions paid
within such four year
period. The volume cap
allocated to such bonds
had been forever lost
upon repayment. Under
the Housing and Economic
Recovery Act of 2008
(the Act), volume cap is
recycled. The Act treats
the payoff of such bonds
as a refunding for tax
purposes and allows
issuers to “recycle” the
monies from such
refunding to finance
additional projects,
including projects for
different obligors,
without the “recycled”
funds counting against
the volume cap. The new
loan must be made within
six months of the
repayment of the
original loan. This will
give issuers more bond
capacity to fund
additional projects by
recycling bonds that are
already accounted for
under the volume cap,
however, the recycled
volume cap does not
provide additional
as-of-right tax credits.
New York City’s Five
Borough Economic
Opportunity Plan
The Five Borough
Economic Opportunity
Plan is a comprehensive
strategy to bring New
York City through the
current economic
downturn as fast as
possible. It focuses on
three major areas:
creating jobs for New
Yorkers today,
implementing a long-term
vision for growing the
city's economy, and
building affordable,
attractive neighborhoods
in every borough. Taken
together, the
initiatives that the
City has launched to
achieve these goals will
generate thousands of
jobs and put New York
City on a path to
economic recovery and
growth.
Contacts:
Contact: Seth McM.
Donlin, HPD (212)
863-5176
Christina Sanchez, HDC
(212) 227-2644
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