Last vestiges of the old Valley Townhouses, making way for 2.0.
The Valley Street Townhouses have almost all come down, and are ready to rise.
Demolition is almost complete of the 40 circa-1965 two-story townhouses at 210 – 290 Valley, as work has begun on the latest remaking of a development in town. Only a handful of the residences remained standing as of the end of work Tuesday.
Housing Authority of New Haven Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton said she expects to see “an empty site” with demolition fully complete by the end of the month.
Then she predicted that the 40 new units will be ready for occupancy next spring.
Thirty-two of those 40 residences will remain for subsidized low-income renters, the other eight market rate.
“It’s going to be transformative,” DuBois-Walton said of the $23 million project.
To raise $8.7 million in tax equity funding, the authority created a for-profit affiliate to own the premises. It struck a 39-year abatement deal under which the low-income units will generate $350 a year in taxes with a 3 percent annual increase.
The total cost includes the demolition work, new water and sewer infrastructure, and stepped-up “passive house design” that will make the development carbon-neutral, according to DuBois-Walton.
Another authority affiliate, a nonprofit, will manage the rebuilt Valley Street Townhouses.
Thirty-two tenants received vouchers to rent apartments elsewhere during construction. They will have first dibs on the new units.
$23 million for 40 units is $575,000 per unit. The Mill River Crossing/Farnam Courts needed $40 million for 90 units of affordable housing, or about $444K/unit.
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/article/40_million_farnam_courts_plans_revealed/
Phase One includes the construction of two mid-rise buildings directly on Grand Avenue, where a plaza now exists. One building will bend around the corner of Hamilton Street and will have space for a corner store on the first floor. The two buildings together will have 90 apartments.
... The phase will cost $40 million, funded by a combination of tax credits, housing authority and city money, and loans.