L.B. Housing Authority looks toward the future

L.B. Housing Authority looks toward the future
Plans call for senior housing on school site
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

The Long Branch Housing Authority is negotiating with the city for the purchase of the former Gregory School, which would become the site of a senior housing complex.

LBHA executive director Tyrone Garrett discussed plans to provide more senior housing at a press conference Nov. 4 at the LBHA office on Hope Lane.

"LBHA has entered into negotiations with the city of Long Branch to purchase the old Gregory School for the future site of a senior housing complex," Garrett said. "We are planning to construct additional, mixed-income units along the Central Avenue corridor."

After the conference ended, Garrett said he hopes to move forward soon on the project planned for the school site on Joline Avenue.

"Hope- fully, we are going to be able to close that with the city of Long Branch before the end of the year," he said. "The concept will be to build 100 units there.

"That should be a positive effect because of its location and the need," he added.

Garrett said that creating senior housing is one of the more pressing issues that the LBHA is facing.

"One-third of our overall waiting list is for seniors," he said. "We need to figure out a way to house them as best as we can.

"The idea is that we will be able to develop some housing units there, whether it be by sale or by rental," he added.

Long Branch Mayor Adam Schnieder attended the press conference and discussed the Gregory School site in an interview last week.

Schneider said it appears the plans will call for the housing authority to demolish the school building.

"I think that's where they are intending to go," he said. "I don't think that they can economically restore it.

"They are trying to build 100 housing units there, and I think on first blush they think they are not going to be able to do that with that building," he added. "It is unfortunate, because it is a nice-looking building."

The city and the LBHA are still in negotiations for the site, but Schneider said it is a "proverbial lock" that the LBHA will end up with it.

According to Garrett, the LBHA is looking at different models to modernize housing in the city.

One option being considered is placing housing units on the floors above retail storefronts.

"The idea is the mixed-income component where there are storefronts on the bottom level," he said. "It is something we might try here if the opportunity presents."

Garrett said the LBHA is getting away from high-rise apartment buildings as a way to provide housing units for seniors.

"The high-rise buildings now probably only go five stories, and they are probably only used for seniors," he said. "The quality of life is bad for residents."

Instead of the high-rises, the trend is to building townhouse-style apartments, which Long Branch has already started to build.

In his presentation, Garrett said there are 40 townhouse units at the remediated Seaview Manor site, 70 townhouse units at the Presidential Estates site, and 128 townhouse units at Garfield Court.

He explained the amenities that the townhouses include.

"Every unit has a dishwasher, washer/dryer, stove, range, central air, an alarm system," he said. "They all have lawns and a sprinkler system."

Daniel Gibson, a coordinator with the LBHA, said another advantage that the townhouses have over the towers is the safety of having your own space.

"The townhouses afford a resident what is known as defensible space," Gibson said. "When you walk through that door, you're in your apartment. You're not in a common hallway not knowing who's in there."

One of the things that the LBHA is doing is treating the townhouses like private property.

"In Long Branch there is now public real estate that rivals that of the private sector," he said. "Our agency has embraced change in attempts to operate daily as if it were a private corporation."

Garrett said one of the primary goals of the LBHA is to modernize all the public housing units in the city.

"To continue the growth, it may be one parcel at a time, but we are going to figure out a way to revitalize obsolete [housing] units in the city," he said.

Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider also spoke at the press conference.

Schneider said that years ago the LBHA management was not up to par, but in recent years the authority has done a complete turnaround.

"What you see here is what happens when people work together," he said. "The change in the authority is amazing.

"You looked at a housing authority management that was in disarray," he added. "The fact is that it is a totally different world here right now in a 100 percent positive way.

"That's a testimony to Tyrone, to the members of the authority and to the employees," he continued. "The change down here is just amazing, and it's had a huge impact on the people in this community."

One of the projects the city and the LBHA will partner on is the conversion of the old Bucky James Center into a recreation center.

"Bucky James is gone, and we are going to have a rec center there," Schneider said. "I'm pretty sure there is going to be cooperation between the recreation department and the housing authority."

During the press conference, Garrett reviewed some past projects that the LBHA has taken on.

The projects include redeveloping SeaviewManor, which was adjacent to a coal tar site inherited by New Jersey Natural Gas.

The LBHA was able to turn the site into a payday when the gas company paid $5.5 million for the site and the costs to relocate the housing.

Garrett said the LBHA leveraged the money into even more funding.

"The $5.5 million had allowed the LBHA to leverage over $137 million in redevelopment activity by pooling HOPE VI, NJHMFA funding [New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency] RCA [regional contribution agreement] funds, HOME funding, and Affordable Home Loan Bank of N.Y. monies," he said. "The original $5.5 million is still in the LBHA's bank account earning interest."