TESTIMONY
Frank Lang and Charlie Stewart from St. Nicks Alliance on Jennings Hall Expansion and Affordable Housing Initiative in Williamsburg
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6 min
Frank Lang and Charlie Stewart from St. Nicks Alliance present a testimony on the expansion of Jennings Hall for adding 218 units of affordable housing in Williamsburg, highlighting the project's details and the need for affordable senior housing.
- Frank Lang discusses the history of St. Nicks Alliance and Jennings Hall, emphasizing the project's aim to address the acute need for affordable housing in the area.
- The testimony outlines the development plans, including leveraging an adjacent bank building and rezoning for increased density.
- Charlie Stewart details the proposed rezoning map amendments necessary for the project and mentions the use of project-based Section 8 vouchers to ensure 100% affordability.
- The project plans to include ground floor commercial space and aims to accommodate incomes up to 60% Average Median Income (AMI), including formerly homeless residents.
- The presentation touches on the architectural design of the new wing, including materials and setbacks to integrate with the existing structure and surroundings.
Frank Lang
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Okay.
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Can you hear me?
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Yes.
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My name is Frank Lang.
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I'm the deputy executive director for housing for St.
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Nick's Alliance.
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The council member basically said a lot of things that I had in my presentation.
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We're delighted to be here to present to you a rezoning to create 218 units of desperately needed affordable housing in Williamsburg.
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Next slide, please.
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As the council member mentioned, SYNNEX Alliance is was created 1975 by local residents and business people, and it continues to have a board primarily made up of local people.
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We built Jennings Hall in 1980 150 units, and we refinanced it through the city's program HDC in 2009.
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And it's really been an anchor, as Hugh mentioned, for the community providing that affordable senior housing.
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Next slide, please.
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Community Board 1, like most of New York City, is desperately in need of affordable housing.
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And Community Board 1 in Waynesburg, Greenpoint, has put affordable senior housing as one of its priorities.
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In particular, the elderly in the neighborhood are being dis place because they live in the 2 story properties, 22 family homes, which have no rent regulation protections.
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And so this kind of housing is really valuable for residents.
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Next slide.
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The project is Jennings this site plan shows in white, the existing Jennings Hall.
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It's made up of 2 existing buildings, 1 in old nurses residence, and the other a a new construction, new construction in 1980.
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We purchased the adjacent property at 8 19 Grand Street on the corner, and the proposal is to combine them together to make this the 3rd wing of Jennings Hall.
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So it would operate like 3 buildings but operate really as one building together.
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It's on the it's on the intersection of 2 large streets and across from the public high school in the neighborhood.
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Next slide, please.
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This is just some images of the of the surrounding area and the different topographies.
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Typologies of the building.
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Next slide.
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The development plan, we, St.
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Nick's alliance, purchased the adjacent bank building, which was vacant, Chase, had moved his branch.
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And the the option here was to leverage that property with Jennings Hall and create 11 property.
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We wanna be able to make that building come over the the parking area of Jennings Hall.
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And so that way we can achieve that density.
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We will also be able to leverage the existing social services at Jennings Hall to be able to provide it for all 368 residents residential units.
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Next slide.
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The project itself itself will be as as the council member noted, a 100% affordable.
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It will range from formally homeless to residents, incomes up to 60% AMI.
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There will also be a ground floor commercial because it's a corner site right at at the intersection of 2 commercial streets.
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I'll let my colleague, Charles Stewart finish out the presentation.
Charlie Stewart
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Hello.
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My name is Charlie Stewart.
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I'm the assistant director of real estate development at St.
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Luke's Alliance.
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Hello?
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Okay.
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Next slide, please.
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So we are proposing 3 zoning map amendments and 1 text amendment.
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As part of this application.
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And the basic intent is to change the zoning designations, but leave the map boundaries and the c 24 commercial overlay intact.
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So here, we're proposing to change the r 7 a designations with an an 4.6 f a r to r 7 x with a 6 f a r and changed the r 6 b designations with a 2.2 f a r along Powers Street.
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To R7a with a 4.6 FAR.
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And these changes will generate the floor area needed to develop the 3rd wing of Jennings Hall and they will also fix an error from the 2009 neighborhood rezoning that put the Powers Street wing of Jennings Hall out of zoning compliance.
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And finally, these changes would allow us to put height and density in an appropriate location on the corner of 2 wide streets next to a train station with excellent transportation access.
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Next slide, please.
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The 3rd wing of Jennings Hall will have an equal mix of studios and one bedrooms and we plan to use HPD Sera program, so the building will have project based section 8 vouchers for all residents, including formally homeless.
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Next slide, please.
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This is a view of the building facing northeast from Grand Street.
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The building has setbacks on the 7th 11th floors and its facade tapers at a 3% angle along Grand Street above the setbacks.
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It will be comprised of 3 different materials, brick, metal panels, and Ephys.
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Next slide, please.
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This is a view facing Northwest from Grand Street, and this image shows the impact of the different materials which help to break down that long street wall.
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Next slide, please.
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And this view faces southeast from Power Street and shows how the new building interacts with the existing Jennings halt building.
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Next slide.
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And finally, this view shows the ground floor commercial space at the corner of Bushwick And Grand.
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And one thing we're proposing here, which might be hard to see, is a six foot setback of the 1st floor storefront along Bushwick Avenue, which will create more circulation space for pedestrians entering or exiting the stairwell to Grand Street Station, which is currently built on the existing bus.