By JEANETTE WOLFBERG
HUDSON–Hudson Housing Authority (HHA) received an extension from the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) to December 31 for paying to hold specific city-owned properties for it to buy, at a special HCDPA meeting October 28. The original deadline was October 31. The HHA Board of commissioners voted to ask the HCDPA for the extension at its regular meeting October 21, to give it more time to decide what additional land it wants for its development project. Under the October 28 agreement, the City of Hudson will keep the properties open for the HHA for a year after it gets the payment.
The HHA runs the 135-unit income-restricted Bliss Tower and Columbia Apartments in Hudson. In 2021 it decided to redevelop its land and wanted the possibility of getting additional land for new housing construction. In September 2022 the HHA worked out an agreement with the HCDPA, giving the HHA the option of buying specific parcels of city-owned land at half the appraised value. To keep the option open, the HHA has to pay the City of Hudson $25,000 a year. It did so in 2022 and 2023.
Last year, HHA partnered with Mountco Construction and Development Corporation and Alexander Gorlin Architects for the redevelopment. They sketched an ambitious maximum build proposal, with new apartment buildings on the land the HHA already owns and town houses on three of the city parcels. The apartment buildings would have 1, 2, and 3- bedroom units. The townhouses would have 15 units all together, some with 4 bedrooms, some with 5 bedrooms.
Now the partnership is modifying the proposal. New York State suggested reducing construction costs, so some new apartment buildings on HHA’s current land will have fewer stories. And the HHA is “in the midst of figuring out” which, if any, new land parcels would be “valuable” for it, said Commissioner Nick Zachos on October 21.
“We want to be certain of what property to choose,” said HHA’s Executive Director Jeffrey Dodson on October 28. “We want to make sure our decision is correct. It’s not a money issue. But the properties are not the best properties in the city. We need to see what we can do with them. We are working on our decision.” In addition, the HHA has to discuss its purchase and development ideas with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (HCR), he said.
Margaret Morris, treasurer of the HCDPA and a Hudson Common Council member for the First Ward, asked why the HHA does not pay the $25,000 right now, still giving it a year to decide what to buy. Mr. Dodson explained that it would lose the money.
Somebody observed that a delay in getting the $25,000 would not “impact” the HCDPA. Right now it has “no plans” for the property, said Ms. Morris. Mr. Dodson suggested setting aside land that the HHA decides not to buy for an “affordable home ownership” program with the HHA as an advisor.
Three of the HCDPA’s five members voted to grant the HHA the payment extension. These were Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson, HCDPA Chair Dominic Merante (who is also a Common Council member for the Fifth Ward), and HCDPA Secretary Theresa Joyner (who also chairs the Planning Board). Ms. Morris abstained. HHA Chair and HCDPA Vice Chair Revonda Smith recused herself.
From the audience Claire Cousin, who is both vice-chair of the HHA and supervisor of Hudson’s First Ward, pointed out that the HHA is advancing the HCDPA’s mission of fostering and promoting “services to low-to-moderate income persons who reside in Hudson.” Therefore, she said, the HHA and the HDCPA should be working together on “this amazing project.”
The uncertainty about the townhouses has caused the partnership to add some 4-bedroom apartments to the proposed big buildings, announced Mountco’s Development Director Eu Ting-Zambuto at the October 21 meeting.
After modifications, she said, the latest plan’s Phase 1 calls for three big buildings, holding about 160 apartments all together. Two buildings would have five stories, one four stories. Two would have green sedum plants on their roof, and one would have photovoltaic cells, according to the latest sketch. First Street would be extended a block from Columbia Street to State Street. Some parking would be street level, some subsurface. Each building would have a community room, a laundry room, and a computer room. One building would also have the HHA office. Another building would also have 2,800 feet of commercial space. One suggestion for that space, Ms. Ting-Zambuto said, has been a food market.
The new buildings would also contain indoor recreational facilities. The HHA currently has a basketball court and other outdoor recreational facilities on land it now intends to build two of the apartment buildings on.
Ms. Ting-Zambuto estimated that it will take about eight months to get approvals, arrangements, and financing in place to begin construction. Once started, she estimated construction would take about two years.
Before the buildings are erected, Ms. Ting-Zambuto added, the site must undergo “environmental remediation.” Information on what this will require is still coming, but it probably will include “scooping out tons and tons of dirt.”
Meanwhile, she continued, “financing is the core of what development does,” and the partnership is exploring possibilities for financing.
When the Phase 1 buildings are complete and ready for occupancy, residents of Bliss and Columbia Apartments will have the option of moving into them. After that, plans envision demolishing HHA’s current building.
Clearing the older buildings will open up land for a hypothetical Phase 2 of the redevelopment plan. Preliminary ideas for it envision two more apartment buildings, a new outdoor basketball court, an initially-green space of about two and a half acres, and “pedestrianizing” a block of State Street between Second Street and the new extension of First Street. Commissioner Cousin said that right now it is dangerous for children from Bliss to cross State Street to play. There are several proposals for the green space.
Also at the October 21 meeting, Mr. Dodson noted that Bliss’ elevators, which for years have had breakdown episodes, were currently working.
