“A lot of good people came out of these gardens,” said Frank Gioia, a member of the West New York Housing Corporation, about the Filmore Garden apartments, located on the corner of 60th Street and Filmore Place, that are being knocked down to make room for an affordable housing complex in the same spot.
Gioia lived in one of these apartments in the ’70s along with former Hudson County Freeholder Joseph Simunovich, noted attorney Vincent Nuzzi and retired Police Lt. Richard Hess.
Filmore Gardens was a 45-unit complex built in 1949 to provide housing to World War II veterans who were returning home.
“The old has to make way for the new,” said Gioia, who now sits on the board that is replacing these gardens with a 108-unit complex, setting aside 82 one- and two-bedroom apartments for affordable housing.
The West New York Housing Corporation, chaired by West New York’s Mayor Albio Sires, works with the Housing Authority on exploring areas in the town that need development
According to County Executive Robert Janiszewski at the press conference held on Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. to mark the beginning of the construction on Filmore Place, this multi-cited housing project is the largest of its kind in Hudson County and the largest to be funded by the state.
The project funded in part by $12 million in low-income tax credits, which relates to more than 12 million in construction costs.
Hudson County provided $1.4 million from Hudson County’s HOME Investment Partnership funds. “There is a critical need for affordable housing in Hudson County,” said Janiszewski, who added that the county has helped with the financing and construction of more than 2,300 units of affordable housing. “Providing affordable housing options for our residents has been one of my top priorities as county executive and we have been very successful in meeting our goals. I look forward to more success stories in the coming years in West New York and throughout Hudson County.”
Money from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust fund was also utilized.
“I insisted that developers on the waterfront contribute to affordable housing,” said West New York Mayor Albio Sires, who said that the waterfront developers add about $400 to the fund for every apartment they construct.
The town used $600,000 from the trust fund.
The town’s Housing Authority, who will take over as the managing agent once the project is completed, also provided additional funding from their Section 8 monies for the project that will be paid back by the developer’s fee.
Multi-sited
Filmore Gardens is only one of three sites in a $20 million affordable housing project that will add a total of 147 units of housing to the town, 117 of which will be set aside for affordable housing.
“This project grew from one site; this site,” said Bob DiVincent, the Executive Director of the Housing Authority. “Into a multi-site.”
The housing corporation was able to identify three sites for the project, one in each of West New York’s three wards.
The Filmore Place site is in the 1st Ward, Dewey Manor in the 3rd Ward and Madison Manor in the 2nd Ward.
“Every part of town has benefited from the project,” said Gioia.
Filmore Place, the largest site, will also house a municipal parking lot and the offices for the city’s Parking Authority.
The Madison Manor site, located on the corner of Madison and 60th streets, will replace a former catering business that was destroyed by a fire several years ago and the building next to it that used to be a nutrition center.
The site will be a three-story building including 18 three-bedroom units with a parking lot across the street.
The Dewey Manor, located on Dewey Street on the corner of 64th Street, is presently an abandoned garage and an empty lot. The site will contain 17 three-bedroom units and parking on the lower level. These three-bedroom apartments make this project stand out from other affordable housing projects. “This is a rebirth of a neighborhood,” said Janiszewski. “This is just one project of many that has been done in West New York.” To Sires, he added, “It is amazing the amount of work you have been able to get done.”