NYS Housing Agency Helps Finance Low-Income Senior Housing in Buffalo

NEW YORK, NY (07/25/2007)(readMedia)-- Construction will begin on 64 units of low-income senior citizen rental housing in Buffalo as a result of the sale of $3.9 million in revenue bonds today by the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA).

The financing will facilitate the rehabilitation of the former YWCA building at 245 North Street located in Buffalo’s Allentown Historic Preservation District.

“This project serves two very important public purposes,” said Priscilla Almodovar, President and Chief Executive Officer of HFA. “It creates much-needed housing for low-income senior citizens in Buffalo and also preserves the historic YWCA building that was first built in 1926.”

The project, called the North Street Y Senior Apartments, will be developed by E Square Capital, LLC and CWG Development Associates, Inc.

The project will consist of 63 units set aside for households with at least one member who is 55 years or older and with an annual income up to 60% of the Area Median Income in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region, where the AMI for a two-person household is $47,400. One additional unit will be reserved for the building superintendent.

The development will include amenities such as laundry facilities, landscaped outdoor seating areas, a community room and approximately 46 parking spaces. The project is located near downtown Buffalo and is served by two bus routes. The building is currently vacant.

The total cost of the project is $7.8 million. In addition to the HFA bond financing, the development will receive an annual allocation of $247,492 in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits from the National Park Service in the amount of $1,315,294 and an HFA Subsidy Loan of $1,415,000. The development will also benefit from a 15-year Payment In Lieu of Taxes agreement with the City of Buffalo, which will provide real estate tax abatement.

The underwriter was Citigroup Global Markets Inc. The bond counsel was Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo.

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HFA was created as a public benefit corporation in 1960 to finance low-income housing by raising funds through the issuance of housing revenue bonds and by making mortgage loans to eligible borrowers.

HFA Contact: Philip Lentz, 212-688-4000 ext. 679, plentz@nyhomes.org

E Square Capital, LLC Contact: Eran Epstein, Partner, 716-884-8213 ext.13

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Posted Wednesday July 25, 2007 at 01:54 pm by New York State Housing Finance Agency