New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas announced that the first project under its Housing Acceleration Fund has closed on $18 million in construction financing. North White Plains, a $178 million mixed-use transit-oriented development in Westchester County and located directly across from the North White Plains Metro-North Station, will feature 296 mixed-income apartments, retail, and publicly accessible open space.
Launched last year, the Housing Acceleration Fund provides self-sustaining loans to shovel-ready housing projects, and has created or preserved more than 4,000 homes in Westchester County.
“By providing low-cost financing for mixed-income housing projects, we are jumpstarting construction of new apartments that will benefit families, seniors, young adults, and those looking for a modern place to live,” Visnauskas said.
Developed by BRP Companies, North White Plains will include a mix of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom residences. Thirty apartments will be designated as affordable housing, including five homes reserved for households earning between 50% and 60% of area median income (AMI) and 25 homes reserved for households earning up to 110 percent of AMI. The transit-oriented development is located directly across from the North White Plains Metro-North Station, and is walking distance to dining, a pharmacy and other retail.
“North White Plains reflects the future of residential development, creating thoughtfully designed communities that connect people to housing, transit and opportunity,” said Steven Smith, partner of BRP Companies. “As housing demand continues to grow throughout the region, developments like this play an important role in expanding access to high-quality homes while strengthening surrounding communities, and we are grateful to all of our financing partners for helping bring this vision to life.”
Financing for North White Plains is supported through a comprehensive public and private sector partnership. It includes $120.6 million from Merchants Capital, $18 million from HCR’s Housing Acceleration Fund, $10 million from The Community Preservation Corporation and $29.7 million in equity from Basis Investment Group and BRP Companies.
Designed to encourage social connectivity, North White Plains will feature a fitness center, resident lounge, co-working lounge, event space and landscaped courtyard. The development will also include approximately 1,000 square feet of ground-floor retail intended for a grab-and-go coffee shop, a 15,000-square-foot publicly accessible park with a dog run, and a parking garage with 383 parking spaces.
North White Plains will be all-electric with no fossil fuel-fired equipment and will utilize high-efficiency electric heat pump systems for heating and cooling. The project is designed to meet or exceed Energy Star Multifamily New Construction standards and meet or exceed the technical requirements of LEED v4 for Homes Multifamily Midrise, while also incorporating electric vehicle charging stations.
The Housing Acceleration Fund utilizes public capital to leverage private capital investment. It provides revolving low-interest loans to projects that are ready to start construction to fill financing gaps in the creation of mixed-income housing developments. HCR will receive its investment back with 3% interest when the project is complete and will then put the funding toward other housing projects. In total, the program will generate $1 billion in economic investments in communities throughout New York.
Construction is expected to begin this summer.
