The Hoboken City Council has approved a developer’s agreement that promises to bring 90 units of two- and three-bedroom affordable housing to the city’s rapidly developing northwest area.
In September of 1999, the City Council created the “Northwest Redevelopment Area” and accordingly adopted a Redevelopment Plan for the area to stimulate growth in the blighted region.
Under that plan, local developer Frank “Pupie” Raia was designated to develop a number of blocks in the area. Work is currently underway at a Shop-Rite supermarket on the corner of 11th and Madison streets.
But while work has begun on the supermarket, the work for the rest of Raia’s blocks has not begun. It is almost four years since he was designated as the developer of those blocks.
According to city officials, the city received within the last six months a request from Raia’s attorney, John Curly, that the city consent to the transfer of Raia’s rights and obligations for two blocks of the developer’s agreement to Tarragon Realty Investors, Inc., and the URSA Development Group, with Raia being a minority partner.
Tarragon Reality of New York City is a real estate investor and developer of for sale housing and rental communities. The company owns approximately 16,000 apartments and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, valued at over $1 billion, with concentrations in Florida, Connecticut, and Texas, according to the company’s web site.
URSA Development is a local group based out of Hoboken, headed by Hoboken developers Michael Sciarra and Mark Settembre.
According the city’s Director of Community Development Fred Bado, Tarragon, URSA, and Raia will fund the construction with Tarragon paying for 90 percent of the project.
The two blocks being transferred are Eighth and Ninth streets between Madison and Monroe streets and 11th and 12th streets between Adams and Jefferson streets.
Guaranteed affordable housing
According to Bado, one of the most attractive aspects of the new agreement is that the developers are now contractually obligated to construct 23 percent of the units as affordable housing units. The total project, which will contain approximately 400 units, is scheduled to have about 90 units of affordable housing. The other 73 percent of the units will be sold at market rate.
“Under Raia’s agreement, only 20 percent of the units would have been affordable. Though our negotiations we have been able to push that number up to 23 percent,” said Bado.
Bado added that another advantage of the new agreement is that all of the new affordable units will be geared for families, with 70 percent of the units having two bedrooms and 30 percent having three.
Mayor David Roberts said Wednesday that making sure that Hoboken has an adequate roll of affordable housing units is one of the key objectives of his administration. “We are committed to maintaining and preserving Hoboken diversity, and making sure that that there are going to be opportunities for families that genuinely need two- and three-bedroom apartments well into the future,” said Roberts.
City Council President Ruben Ramos, who was on the council’s Ad hoc Committee that reviewed this particular issue in the Northwest Redevelopment Plan, said Wednesday that it is a good agreement for Hoboken. “I’m proud that we have been able to guarantee that 90 units of affordable housing units are going to become a reality,” Ramos said.
Councilman Christopher Campos, who is the chair of council’s Affordable Housing Subcommittee, said Thursday that maintaining Hoboken’s affordable housing is crucial.
“The situation is vital for Hoboken’s success,” he said. “I think it is the number one issue confronting our residents today and this is a positive step in the right direction. Creating 90 units for families is a tangible product and will go a little ways toward alleviating the situation.”
The next step for the developers is to secure funding for the project. According to Bado, the developers are currently applying for affordable housing assistance from a number of state, county, and federal sources. Once that funding is obtained, the developers will be able to go before the city’s Planning Board to seek approvals.
Because the timelines for both of those processes are uncertain, it is still not possible to predict when construction will begin.