North Syracuse, NY - The conversion of Toll Road Park into a senior housing complex in North Syracuse has officially begun. North Syracuse village officials are joining local developers this afternoon for a groundbreaking on the $11.3 million affordable senior citizens housing complex just off North Main Street (Route 11). The project is financed almost entirely with government help to...
North Syracuse, NY - The conversion of Toll Road Park into a senior housing complex in North Syracuse has officially begun.
North Syracuse village officials are joining local developers this afternoon for a groundbreaking on the $11.3 million affordable senior citizens housing complex just off North Main Street (Route 11).
The project is financed almost entirely with government help to keep the rents below market rate, the developer has said. Tenants must meet income guidelines.
In 2008, the North Syracuse village board authorized its former mayor to enter into an agreement to sell the former Toll Road Park property to Two Plus Four Construction and The Bragman Companies, pending approval of the village attorney and village engineer. The sale was finalized earlier this year.
Under the agreement, the developers would pay $71,000 for the eight-acre site just off Route 11, a figure that was reached after an independent appraisal of the property. That money must go back into the village parks system to satisfy requirements of the legislation that allowed the park to be taken off the state's park registry and developed for affordable senior citizen housing, village officials said at the time.
The complex owners will be Lakewood Development, which is Two Plus Four Construction's development arm, and the nonprofit Southern Hills Preservation Corp. Two Plus Four Management will manage the complex. Two Plus Four is based in East Syracuse.
North Syracuse plans to grant the owners a payment in lieu of taxes agreement for the development, village officials have said.
The state Division of Housing and Community Renewal last year awarded $927,308 in federal tax credits to the limited partnership that will own the complex, the developers said at the time. The partnership will sell the credits to a syndicate of investors, which will generate about $7.4 million for the project.
Other financing includes $2.6 million from the state, through the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, in the form of a 1 percent, interest-only mortgage. There is other government money in the project as well.
The complex will consist of two 30-unit apartment buildings, a community center and green space with walking trails, village officials have said. It is located on roughly four acres of land on the site of what was once Toll Road Park.