Near the once arsenic-laced apple orchards of the Perx property, something fresh has taken root. Red Hook Commons, a cheerful yellow apartment complex owned by developer Ken Kearney, will provide affordable housing for seniors with 96 units on Route 9 in the Village of Red Hook.
A mix of funding sources, including state, county and federal, have helped the project thrive in barren soils, contaminated from days when an apple orchard and food processing plant were located on the property. The pollution led to New York State “brownfield” designation and priority as a Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) hazardous environmental site. After the former owners defaulted on taxes, Dutchess County took over ownership and cooperated with the state on remediation, directing $295,000 from the county Community Development Block Grant program toward the task.
Kearney’s first met with officials in 2002 to begin discussing his proposal. Planning began in earnest in 2004 while Kearney was under contract to purchase the building. He closed on the deal in September 2006, and immediately following, construction on the affordable senior apartments began. Several agencies provided financing for the project: Dutchess County, the Community Preservation Program, NYS Housing Trust Fund Corporation and the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, as provided through Alliant Capital.
County Executive William Steinhaus was on-hand for the opening of Red Hook Commons on Sept. 27, along with Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, Town of Red Hook councilwoman Sue Crane and Red Hook mayor David Cohen. Steinhaus presented keys and housewarming gifts to the first two tenants during the ceremony.
With a pedestrian-friendly location in the village and a pleasant living environment, seniors’ lives would be changed for the better, Steinhaus said. He joked that “a lot of jealous people” would be asking the seniors, “‘You live at the Commons?’
“This particular project was a great vision from the earliest seed of the idea,” he said.
All 48 units in phase I, for seniors ages 62 and older, are now rented out to tenants. Income levels determine eligibility. Eight tenants in one-bedrooms that rent for $306 have income levels at 30 percent of the area median; others pay $577 or $645 based on income. The elevator building features extra-wide doors to accommodate wheelchairs and emergency call buttons.
Phase II, for seniors 55 and older, is still under construction, though 55 people are already on the waiting list for 48 units. Kearney anticipates completion by spring of 2008. A few commercial units will be leased to doctors and other service providers.
Kearney’s investment in both phases totals $16 million. He estimated the value of tax credits received at about $6 million.
Crane talked about remarkable changes at the site. “When I stand here and remember what this site was like, it’s kind of overwhelming,” she said.
From hazardous to homey
After its owners abandoned the food processing plant and apple orchards on the 22-acre site, the environmental picture wasn’t pretty. According to information from the DEC, soils contained remnants of pesticides, including arsenic, chlordane and DDT, and a wastewater system at the plant discharged water into an on-site lagoon. A dozen structures – including a concrete food processing facility, small house, barn, garage and wastewater treatment buildings – were constructed in the 1940s. Drums and bags found inside contained various substances, some unidentifiable. Orchards on the western half of the site, now protected wetland, date from the 1950s and 1960s.
The DEC’s $1,760,000 remediation package included removing all storage tanks and waste, excavating contaminated soil, removing asbestos from buildings and demolishing them.
The building’s first tenant, Jack Coons, was ready to move in along with other new residents immediately following the ceremony. Coons, Steinhaus explained, had once worked at the food processing plant. Now he was returning for his retirement days. “Jack came back,” Steinhaus quipped.