A new affordable housing development is now open in Albany.
A ribbon-cutting was held this week for the $22 million Station 25 project. It features 51 apartments set on historic property in the Park South neighborhood. Mayor Kathy Sheehan says reimagining the 108-year old site at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Morris Street was challenging.
"We were guided by the Park South plan, which really envisioned this neighborhood as a mixed income neighborhood, and there had been a tremendous amount of investment that happened in market rate housing, but we really needed to ensure that we had affordable price points for individuals who were living in this neighborhood previously, and who wanted to ensure that they had affordability built into this neighborhood that they love," said Sheehan.
Brett Hebner is the vice president of Multifamily Finance, at New York State Homes and Community Renewal, overseeing the competitive Low-Income Housing Tax Credit financing path for affordable and supportive housing developments.
Hebner says the state is making progress on Governor Kathy Hochul’s five-year, $25 billion plan to add 100,000 units of affordable and supportive homes.
"Albany was actually amongst the earliest participants in the pro Housing Communities Program," Hebner said, "committing to foster the growth in housing stock and thereby kind of unlocking those opportunities for further coordinated state investment in housing."
Hebner says the tax credit program generated approximately $11 million in equity and $6.9 million in subsidy. The City of Albany provided $500,000 through the HOME program.
Developed by Rochester-based Conifer realty, the $22 million development consists of a newly constructed five-story residential building with 40 one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom apartments, adjacent to the previously vacant historic two-story former Fire Signal Equipment Building. That now houses the development’s amenity spaces, which include a community room, kitchenette, bicycle storage space, and a fitness center. Sheehan says tenants will have a home they can truly appreciate.
"This is in such a perfect location. Its proximity to a grocery store, to an elementary school, to the middle school, to all that Lark Street has to offer," said Sheehan. "This really demonstrates that you can build an affordable component in a neighborhood, as that neighborhood grows and changes and expands."
A mobility impaired accessible playground is on site along with a community green area.
