The Residents' Times -- February 2010

Enhancing Quality of Life for Low Income Housing Residents

Life Management helps residents of Essex and Hudson county to improve their quality of life. By administering home based services that offer educational , social and recreational opportunities, Life Management in partnership with RPM Development Group is expanding the horizons of young and adult residents to not only develop life management skills, but to also add depth to their daily life and create opportunities for their future.

Through a unique relationship with Life Management, Inc., a not-for-profit social service agency, RPM Development Group provides residents at eight of its low-income properties with opportunities for improving their quality of life.  

Life Management serves the residents of Bakery Village, The Berkeley, Bostwick Court, Cherry Tree Village, Dr. King Plaza, Lincoln Avenue Apartments, Millennium Homes, and West Side Village. In addition to meeting and getting to know the residents of each building, the Life Management social services coordinators arrange guest speakers and regularly scheduled workshops for residents.   Life Management publicizes the workshops and social events through a monthly newsletter that is distributed to each resident and by posting flyers in each building.  Life Management posts its monthly newsletter on the RPM website and submits monthly reports to RPM on the activities, attendance and needs of the residents.  Life Management also keeps RPM informed of the special events and meetings being held at each building, to which RPM representatives may want to attend.  

The services provided by Life Management include:  educational workshops, mentoring, consultation, geriatric care management, crisis intervention, volunteer phone alert services and home repairs to senior homeowners of Essex County.  Workshops and activities provided by Life Management, include job skills, finance, health, self defense, yoga,  daily homework assistance, mentoring, computer tutoring, and arts and crafts classes.  The Agency hosts tenant association meetings, and holiday parties. Life Management also offers a number of volunteer opportunities for men and women to become more involved in their communities.

Newark gets affordable housing funds: $4.8 million to pay for 119 rental units
Thursday, July 08, 2004
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff

Newark is to add 119 affordable residences, thanks to just-approved state and federal funding for the construction and rehabilitation of rental housing units, officials said yesterday.

The state Department of Community Affairs and the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency are providing $4.8 million to erect Springfield Commons, a proposed 72-unit scattered-site family development near West Side Park, and renovate Brentwood Commons, a 47-unit family development on South Orange Avenue.

That $4.8 million is part of $22.2 million earmarked for 582 units of affordable housing in Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth counties, according to Susan Bass Levin, commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, and Marge Della Vecchia, HMFA's executive director. "These investments represent jobs and housing opportunities that will make a difference in the lives of thousands of people, and an investment in the future vitality of many of our municipalities," Levin said.

Funding for Springfield Commons consists of about $1 million in federal tax credits and $1.9 million in Balanced Housing/Home Express funds. Brentwood Commons will get $642,619 in federal tax credits and $1,190 in Balanced Housing/Home Express funds.

The RPM Development Group of Montclair is the developer for Springfield Commons, consisting of three one-bedroom units, 30 two- bedroom apartments and 39 three- bedroom units.

CPH Development will be the developer for Brentwood Commons, where all apartments will be enlarged and where the entire structure will be rehabilitated with new plumbing, electrical, heating, smoke detectors and an elevator.

Fairview's heartbeat hammering
Sunday, July 4, 2004
By KEVIN RIORDAN
Courier-Post Columnist

The noise in Brendan McBride's office on Yorkship Square is insistent and intrusive.
But the thunk of hammers and the whine of saws in the empty apartments overhead is the sound of optimism. And it's most welcome in Camden's Fairview neighborhood, where optimism has been hard to come by in recent years.

"There's a lot going on, and people are very excited," says McBride, who spent part of his youth in Fairview and, at 29, has returned to help rebuild his old neighborhood. He's the manager of a three-year, $50 million project by the RPM Development Group, a Montclair-based firm that is renovating and selling 105 houses and renovating or building 72 units of rental housing in this historic, architecturally distinctive section of Camden.

Hence the noise emanating from the ceiling in McBride's ground-floor office; the building and three others in the long-vacant apartment complex that surrounds nearly half the square is being renovated into 52 units for low- and moderate-income renters.

Given that the handsome structures have been boarded up for several years and vacant for several more, the start of work sends a highly visible signal about the direction of the neighborhood.

"There's a perception that affordable housing is (inevitably of) poor quality," McBride says. "The specter of Section 8 hangs heavily over Fairview, and we can understand this perception. But these apartments are going to be gorgeous.

"The square is a big indicator of people's confidence," he continues. "By design, it's the central point of the community."

Design has always been fundamental in Fairview, the heart of which is a planned community built for New York Shipbuilding Corp. workers during and immediately after World War I. Most planned communities were (and still are) for the well-off, but Fairview's solid (if generally small) homes, pleasing architecture, and abundant greenery were meant for blue-collar folks to enjoy.

It all worked well until the early 1990s, when a jump in property taxes, an aging population, and the city's seemingly unstoppable decline sparked an exodus from what had long been Camden's sole white neighborhood. Today, Fairview is about two-thirds black and Hispanic and a third white, and the wave of vacant houses seems to have crested.

One reason is a strengthening real estate market. But credit also must go to RPM, which began work about a year ago and has since renovated and sold 31 houses. The company's specialty is affordable housing in urban areas; Fairview marks its first venture south of Trenton.

RPM's project is supported by the state (and in part by the federal government) but is separate from the Economic Review Board and its roster of Camden revitalization projects.

Among the newest buyers is 26-year-old Yajaira Mendez, who will move into her new home on Argus Road this week.

"I can't wait," says the North Camden resident, who works at a dry cleaning firm in Voorhees.

I don't blame her, especially after McBride gives me a tour of her home, as well as two other freshly renovated houses. The high quality of the work is obvious, and there's a nice contrast between the modern systems (including appliances) and the rich, old hardwood floors. And because Fairview is a national historic district, the windows facing the street must be of wood, not vinyl.

It's a seemingly minor thing, but important, because it reflects the commitment to quality housing for the working class that gave rise to Fairview in the first place.

Of course, there are far too many boarded-up houses in the neighborhood these days, not to mention far too many poorly maintained properties, weedy yards, and overgrown curb lawns. Sidewalks and pavements are crumbling in many places. And what's up with all the litter?

Nevertheless, Fairview's bones are still good. Which is one reason why some houses are selling for between $50,000 and $70,000 - high by city standards, but still a bargain, even considering Camden's high taxes.

Indeed, there is still something special about the look and feel of Fairview.

No wonder McBride, who's renting in the neighborhood, wants to buy a house there.

"I'm an optimist," he says.

Father Rasi Homes won't be forgotten
Thursday, July 01, 2004
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff

The long-awaited demolition of the Father Rasi Homes -- the 1953 high-rise public housing complex in Orange -- is finally under way.

Workers from the Yannuzzi Demolition and Recycling Corp. of White Street in Orange, began razing the four buildings off Route 280 and South Essex Avenue earlier this week.

The seven-story buildings became one of the most crime-and drug-infested sections of the community, but that did not stop former residents from returning to the site to watch the demolition crews at work and to collect some mementos. "I gave out at least 100 or more bricks," said Michael Paris, a Yannuzzi demolition worker at the site. "People were crying. People were emotional."

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development -- through Hope VI demolition funding -- is paying $1.1 million to get rid of the old brick, mortar and trouble that bore the name Father Rasi Homes. The Orange Housing Authority, which operated the complex, requested the funding.

Lona Wiggins, former president of the Father Rasi Tenants Association who lived in the complex for 44 years, said demolition crew workers gave her two bricks as souvenirs. "I was sad," said Wiggins, after Tuesday watching demolition crews tearing down the first of two Gray Street buildings at the site. "I stood there thinking about all the good times, and what a good community it was, and still is."

Wiggins, now a resident of Roselle, moved into the development in 1959, raised one daughter, four sons and one granddaughter there, and finally moved out a year ago last March, amid relocation efforts organized by the Orange Housing Authority.

On Tuesday, Billy Moscato was behind the operating controls of a P.C. 850 Komatsu excavator -- which can reach as high as 167 feet -- while Eddie Dunning manned a standard P.C. 400 excavator, which reaches about 40 feet high, pulling, tugging and gnawing away at chunks of debris. "Everything has been running smoothly," said Thomas Bandelt, another Yanuzzi worker, in charge of work permits.

Although the Father Rasi complex will soon be history, Wiggins conceded the demolition underway "is a good thing," especially since replacement housing is coming. Housing authority officials have said they spent up to $9 million trying to refurbish the complex, only to be rebuffed by ongoing vandalism.

In the past, the police had to consistently respond to the site because of assaults, drug dealing, prostitution, relentless vandalism, nonstop graffiti and gang activity there.This week, the scrawled words "Dollar Black Organized Crime," emblazoned in black across the pale yellow stairwell wall on the exposed sixth floor, was a tell-tale sign of the homes' troubled past.

The complex was first built as housing for low- and moderate-income families. Its 140 apartments provided a decent and affordable place to live, said Ann Mitola, a former Orange Housing Authority commissioner. "In the end, however, it became a no-win situation, with crime, drugs, malicious damage and outright property destruction" ruining the place.

By next year this time, South Essex Court, a replacement 75-unit, $14.2 million housing development, is expected to rise in the place of the Father Rasi Homes. It will consist of 53 townhouses, mostly three-bedrooms with two baths, and 22 two-bedroom apartments, all in a single, low-rise building.

The Orange Housing Authority's application to receive Hope VI replacement housing funding did not get approved this year. However, both the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, and the state Department of Community Affairs Balance Housing Program, have approved the money to make South Essex Court a reality, according Edward Martoglio of RPM Development Group in Montclair. "We are so pleased to be have demolition under way, at long last," Martoglio said. "It's going to take six to eight weeks to complete. By early fall, we should be ready to start new housing construction, with a goal of delivering the first units by summer 2005."

Fifteen of the 75 units will be set aside for some of the former Father Rasi tenants who qualify for low income federal subsidies, while the remaining 60 new units will be set aside for qualified individuals whose family incomes range from $25,000 to $40,000 a year, Martoglio said.

South Essex Court will be a joint venture between the Orange Housing Authority and RPM, with RPM being the sole entity that ultimately will manage the new complex, Martoglio said. "I look forward to our partnership with the RPM Group," said Clyde Dawson, executive director of the Orange Housing Authority. "I look at this as a precursor to what I hope will be a more comprehensive, alternative housing development plan."

Wiggins, the former Father Rasi Tenants Association leader, said she, for one, wants to move back to Orange. In fact, Wiggins said, she's ready to send off her application to the RPM Development Group in Montclair. Father Rasi Homes was named after Right Rev. Father Acursio Rasi, a popular Capuchin priest who, during the 1930s in Orange, spearheaded the construction of the Mt. Carmel Catholic Church, school and rectory.

April 1, 2004

To All RPM Employees/Friends

It is with great sadness and regret that I leave RPM to pursue other interests. It has been so much a part of my life for the past 20 years or so that it seems almost inconceivable to me that I will no longer be here. I have seen RPM grow from one employee to what is today -- the leading provider of affordable housing in the state. I have enjoyed working with all of you. It provides a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that our collective efforts have made a positive difference in so many lives. It is difficult to articulate the satisfaction, joy and pride that I have felt in starting with an idea and then overcoming so many difficult and seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve all that RPM has become. We have so many tangible monuments to point to demonstrate what has been achieved to date. When I was an active attorney, I always took pride in what I did and what I accomplished, but at the end of the day there was really nothing tangible to show for it. Just so many words on pieces of paper. But at RPM, our efforts translate into islands of hope for working class families that provide them a basis for successful and productive lives. Recently I read an excerpt from a book about the struggles of the working poor in our country, which clarifies our mission. It reads as follows...

“A rundown apartment can exacerbate a child’s asthma, which leads to a call for an ambulance, which generates a medical bill that cannot be paid, which ruins a credit record, which hikes the interest rate on an auto loan, which forces the purchase on an unreliable used car, which jeopardizes a mother’s punctuality at work, which limits her promotions and earning capacity, which confines her to poor housing.” (The working Poor: Invisible in America- David Shipler – Knopf Pub.)

As you can see, providing affordable, safe and decent housing can mean so much to so many in so many unexpected and incalculable ways, especially the children who are our future. RPM’s work is the foundation upon which families can build productive and successful lives. I hope that RPM's wonderful success continues even to a greater degree than it already has. I have been proud to be a part of this organization and wish it continued prosperity and achievement in the future. I also would like to extend a sincere and huge thank you to Ed for being my partner all these years. I know Ed, who has done so much for RPM, will continue in his relentless pursuit of excellence at RPM for all that will be accomplished in the future. I leave you all in his capable hands knowing that you will succeed in whatever endeavors are undertaken because of his focus, drive and desire to do the right thing for communities in NJ.

Al Pierri

Father Rasi complex awaits demolition
Official says structures in Orange should fall by the summer's end
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff

Eight months after the federal government approved demolition funds to tear down the crime-ridden Father Rasi high-rise public housing complex in Orange, the aging twin hulks off Route 280 and South Essex Avenue still await the wrecking ball.

"The buildings should be ready to come down in another two months," a demolition official assigned to the project said. "Then it should take five to six weeks per building to demolish. Everything should be finished by the end of the summer."

Right now, pre-demolition crews are busy abiding by federal regulations that require rodent abatement every couple of weeks throughout the 140-apartment site and the separate, careful removal of old vinyl floor tiles partly made of asbestos, the official, Dennis Grasso, director of construction for the RPM Development Group of Montclair, said.

RPM is the general contractor that the Orange Housing Authority designated last fall to be in charge of turning the red bricks and mortar of the Father Rasi complex into rubble and clear the site of the project built in 1953.

If and when the Orange Housing Authority successfully applies for and secures money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Hope VI funds, RPM already has been chosen to construct replacement townhouses and a single low-rise apartment building there.

The Father Rasi buildings, which have two addresses on the Gray Street side of the complex and two on the Mechanic Street side, have anywhere from four to 12 pre-demolition workers inside them removing the vinyl floor tiles, Grasso said.

Subcontractors from the Nova Development firm, a New Brunswick asbestos removal company, are using a special process that essentially heats up the tiles so the flooring -- one layer in some places and two in others -- melts and peels off, then gets collected and sent to specially designated federal disposal areas, Grasso said, adding. "We have to do it by federal regulation."

Until the 1970s, asbestos, a mineral fiber, was widely used to provide heat insulation and fire resistance. It was used in a variety of products, including roofing and siding shingles, vinyl flooring and adhesives, stove-top pads, insulation, and on tape and blanket coatings wrapped around hot water and steam pipes.

There's no immediate health danger unless the asbestos itself becomes friable, with the fiber particles crumbling, becoming dust- like and then becoming airborne.

"They've finished one wing on Gray Street and now (the subcontractors) are on the second floor of the second building," Grasso said.

The Yannuzzi Demolition and Recycling Corp. of White Street in Orange, another subcontractor, has a crane, bulldozer and excavator on the site, and the Father Rasi locale itself -- where open drug sales and usage, shootings, assaults, prostitution, loitering and vandalism became almost commonplace over the past 20 years -- is temporarily fenced off to keep out the public.

Plywood boards have been nailed across the red brick development's basement and first-floor windows, and many of the replacement glass panes on the upper floor windows are either open or missing.

The asphalt courtyard between the two, seven-story buildings has been dug up, with huge chunks of it piled behind the former single- story community center there. And large metal navy blue trash bins around the site are filled with assorted debris. "We're getting ready to take down the one-story community center within the next few weeks," Grasso said.

It was on Aug. 8 that HUD, through its Newark area office, announced the awarding of a little more than $1 million to the Orange Housing Authority to demolish the aged public housing complex.

The complex was named in honor of Father Acursio Rasi, an energetic friar with the Capuchin Franciscan order, and an Orange religious leader from December 1926 to October 1945.

Once the Father Rasi buildings are history, Orange Housing Authority officials want them replaced with South Essex Court, a planned $11 million development comprising 75 two- and three-story townhouses, and one 22-unit, four-story apartment building.

Demolition paves way for renewal
Destruction and construction go hand in hand
Thursday, April 08, 2004
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH
Star-Ledger Staff

Some longtime brick and mortar facades along Main Street in East Orange have been demolished to make way for the redevelopment on the former Muir's department store site. The old F.W. Woolworth store, the adjacent Singer Sewing Machine company, and the Frank H. Taylor & Son real estate and construction firm buildings are history. The buildings' limestone cornices were removed Friday, and work crews turned the limestone and brick structures into rubble on Monday.

Demolition, excavation and building construction work is simultaneously taking place where the $18.9 million Brick Church Commons residential and commercial complex -- bordered by Main Street on the south, Prospect Street on the west, William Street on the north and Lincoln Street on the east -- quickly molds into shape.

"The change is positive, and fits into the overall redevelopment resurgence of the Main Street commercial corridor," Mayor Robert Bowser said yesterday. The first of the complex's three steel and brick buildings -- at Lincoln and William streets, featuring ground-level parking and 24 two- bedroom apartments on floors 2 through 4 -- should be finished within a few months, said Edward Martoglio, Brick Church Commons' developer, a principal with RPM Development Group of Montclair. "The building is well on the way. Framing is almost complete, electrical, heating, ventilation and air conditioning work is ongoing, and leasing will probably begin in May," Martoglio said.

Meanwhile, he said, foundation work has begun on the second, four-story, 24-apartment unit building, at the Prospect and William streets portion of the parcel. That structure will feature underground parking for tenants and 10,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space.

Floors 2 through 4 will feature mainly two-bedroom units, a few of which will have dens. Five of the 24 units will have three bedrooms. "I would hope that building will be finished in the late fall," Martoglio said.

The final and largest building, a five-story structure that will run from Prospect Street almost to Lincoln Street, will stand adjacent to the 1929 building now occupied by Olive May Natural Foods, New Jersey's oldest natural food establishment.

That building -- featuring 28,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space, 56 two-bedroom apartments on floors 2 through 5 and an outdoor recreation center in the rear center of the complex -- should be ready for occupancy one year from now, Martoglio said.

All the work there is part of the changing face of East Orange's downtown, which already has seen the demise of long-ago vacated businesses such as Muir's, the Lyceum Masonic Lodge-turned-Ormont Theater, the suburban Best & Co. store and the Hale Office Building.

After the Woolworth chain went out of business, a Dresses for Less store opened up there. Singer Sewing later became a Salvation Army thrift store, and the Taylor building had been vacant for years. The section of East Orange's once vibrant shopping district is a mere shadow of what it used to be with little pedestrian shopping traffic.

"It's a shame to see these historical buildings go, but it's balanced by the wonderful revitalization taking place in the city," said Princeton resident Bill Hart, a former East Orange resident and author of the "East Orange in Vintage Postcards" book. "You have to make way for revitalization."

Brick Church Commons, along with Dr. King Plaza, its $17.9 million sister residential and commercial complex one block west, at Main and North Harrison streets, are viewed as catalysts helping to revitalize that blighted section of the downtown commercial strip.

Dr. King Plaza is a single, U- shaped five-story building comprising 96 units and 35,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space on a 2.4-acre site. It opened in July.

RPM agreed to do the two projects, with a third -- Millennium Homes, a single-family homes project at Prospect and Carlton streets -- in exchange for a 30-year payment in lieu of taxes abatement deal that a majority of the city council endorsed in 2000.

As Seen in The Star-Ledger…

Workers clear East Orange site, making way for 3-phase complex
BY KEVIN C. DILWORTH

Click Here to view this article on NJ.com

Construction site manager Joseph Storm is watching the excavation of the spot where Muir's department store thrived for decades in downtown East Orange. Standing near a huge pile of concrete rubble -- Muir's dug-up foundation -- Storm begins chatting with masonry subcontractor Carlos Dias while Ken Conwell is doing backfill work and operating an excavator.

As Conwell digs up the northeastern portion of the long vacant and blighted site bordered by Main, Prospect, William and Lincoln streets, Storm and Dias look down into a pit. Eight laborers are preparing concrete footings where steel beams soon will rise to serve as the frame of the first of three new mixed-used buildings under construction there. The $18.9 million Brick Church Commons, a mostly market-rate, 104-apartment unit complex with ground-level retail stores, is taking shape.

Brick Church Commons comes 29 years after Muir's went out of business, 14 years after a firefighter perished battling a suspicious blaze that destroyed the vacant store, and four months after construction on the new redevelopment project began.

On this fall day, work crews -- hired by project developer RPM Development Group of Montclair -- are busy creating what city planners hope will become a vibrant arts district, complete with residential, retail and restaurant components.
It's right across the street from NJ Transit's Brick Church rail station, where Midtown Direct train service to Manhattan is offered.

The Brick Church Commons complex of three buildings is expected to be completed in 2005, and excavation is to start soon on the second building, on the Prospect and William streets section of the parcel, said Edward Martoglio, an RPM principal.
In Muir's heyday, the bustling Brick Church section of the city -- which also included the adjacent Muir's Towne House Restaurant (now known as Bogie's) -- was a major shopping and dining draw for the city's well-to-do population.

Right after Thanksgiving, the steel-beam frame will start going up, creating what will become a four-story structure containing 24 two- and three-bedroom apartments, on the second through fourth floors, and tenant parking on the building's enclosed ground level. That first building in the complex should be ready for occupancy in the spring, and construction on the second could get under way as early as February, weather permitting, Storm said.

The second building also will be four stories, featuring 24 two- and three-bedroom apartments, but unlike the first, it will have 12,000 square feet of ground-level retail space, and underground parking.
Construction on the final Brick Church Commons edifice -- a five- story structure on Main Street containing 56 apartments, 25,000 square feet of retail space, and underground parking -- will not start until two existing buildings are demolished.

The buildings soon headed for the wrecking ball are the former Woolworth's department store- turned-Dresses for Less retailer, and the former Frank H. Taylor & Son real estate building, a structure later used as Singer Sewing Machine Co. outlet and a Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Within the past two weeks, the city and RPM Development closed on two land deals expected to speed up redevelopment in that area. RPM now owns the former Muir's site, along with two just-purchased stores, and paid $655,000 for the parcel that includes the right to tear down the Woolworth's and Taylor buildings.
It also paid the city $200,000 to buy the former East Orange Parking Authority site, off Prospect, William and Carlton streets, where it plans to soon begin construction on the $2 million Millennium Homes. That townhouse community would feature 18 market-rate residences consisting of three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a two-car garage.

Brick Church Commons and the proposed Millennium Homes are one block east of RPM's sister development, Dr. King Plaza, which had a grand opening July 10.

Dr. King Plaza is a $17.3 million, five-story structure with 96 apartments and a host of stores on the street level off Main and North Harrison streets.

As of this month, Dr. King Plaza's residential units are 100 percent occupied, more than 100 people are on a waiting list, and all the retail/commercial spaces on the Main Street side of that huge L- shaped building are rented, Martoglio said. A Fleet Community Bank branch opened there two weeks ago, across the street from the Brick Church Shopping Plaza.

Martoglio said new businesses scheduled to open in Dr. King Plaza include the Elegant Eyes eyeglass store; the Tunde Dada House of Africa store featuring Afrocentric gifts, art and clothing; the Rampersad's Galleria Gourmet delicatessen; the Utopia restaurant; and the Contour's Express Women's fitness studio.

Fairview Village

Fairview Village represents a model garden city design located in the City of Camden. The area has been in steady decline and is characterized by numerous vacant and boarded-up residential, commercial, and mixed-use structures. In September 2000, the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, in conjunction with the City of Camden, issued a Request for Qualifications from developers interested in redeveloping the Fairvew area. In January 2001, RPM Development was selected as the redeveloper for the area. The development plan was created through the efforts of RPM and local stakeholders, such as Fairview Historic Society, the Camden Council of Pastors, The City of Camden and RPM’s planning and architectural consultants. The plan seeks to reverse the physical and economic decline of the Fairview neighborhood through an interdependent approach of historic, long-term maintenance and new construction.

Located in the heart of the village is Yorkship Square, a traditional high-density mixed-use center to which all of Fairview is linked. Redevelopment of the historic Fairview District of Camden will be completed in three phases. The First Phase includes rehabilitating four (4) vacant buildings surrounding Yorkship Square. Acquisition and renovation of the four-targeted buildings will create 53 one, two and three bedroom units and 3,000 square feet of community space. Also included in this Phase is the construction of two new buildings that will consist of 20 three-bedroom units. The total 73-unit development (including 2 units to non-income restricted superintendents) is being submitted to the Agency for nine percent tax credits and to DCA for financing in the Balanced Housing Program.

Phase Two of the Redevelopment Initiative calls for the rehabilitation and sale of abandoned and/or foreclosed single-family units. In addition, acquisition of boarded up buildings through condemnation will allow the abandoned properties to be efficiently consolidated, rehabilitated and sold at market rate without any deed restrictions pertaining to the income level of the purchaser, but with a primary residency requirement.

As part of Phase Three, new rental housing around the edge of the historic village will be developed. New family housing will provide an opportunity for families to enjoy modern affordable housing near the Fairview neighborhood. This in turn will provide more families to support the businesses on the square. The new apartments on the outer edge of the neighborhood on presently unimproved land will provide modern housing options for families and help provide the critical mass of needed customers for the businesses on the square. By building on the unimproved land the physical structures in Yorkship Village will be preserved. The new housing will balance the existing supply of undersized two bedroom row houses that are too small for modern families wishing to live in Fairview.

This innovative Redevelopment Initiative features a comprehensive approach to address an entire community’s decline. The success of this plan required all of the key stakeholders working in a cooperative spirit to keep focus on both the broad vision as well as the specific actions required. Thus, the Department of Community Affairs along with the New Jersey Housing Agency have served as catalysts to bring the local community groups, the City and private enterprises together to work to bring this comprehensive development to fruition.

Belvidere Village

When the City of Trenton adopted a Redevelopment Plan for the Canal Banks area as part of the Trenton Homeownership Zone, the goal was to promote new housing opportunities throughout the redevelopment. This included both homeownership and rental through rehabilitation of existing homes and the construction of new homes, and to create infill housing on various sites to strengthen the residential character of the neighborhood. To bring the plan to fruition, RPM’s charge is to provide a mix of low, moderate and market rate housing to promote private investment, create new business opportunities, and revitalize the neighborhood.

The proposed project is a scattered site development located in the 100-block of Bellevue Avenue and Summer Street. The surrounding neighborhood consists primarily of row homes, many of which are boarded up and/or abandoned. The site is located less than a mile from downtown Trenton, which has recently experienced new growth with the completion of the Marriott Hotel, the Sovereign Bank Arena, the new Trenton Central Fire headquarters, and the new construction of single family homes in the Battle of Monument area known as Monument Crossing and Willow Green. The downtown area features an abundance of shopping, schools, health facilities, places of worship, and opportunities for employment, all within walking distance from the site. In addition, fire and police services are also located within a few blocks of Belvidere Village and the area is well served by public transportation.

Brick Church Commons

Brick Church Commons will consist of three newly constructed multi-family buildings in East Orange, New Jersey. Two of these are 4-story structures and one is a five-story structure. The four-story buildings contain 48 apartments (24 units each). The five-story building contains 56 apartments, making the total number of apartments 104. Of the four-story structures one will have ground-level parking for tenants rather than commercial space. The other two buildings will have underground parking garages for tenants and street-level parking for retail customers. The first floors of these two buildings will have commercial space totaling 37,500 square feet. In addition, there will be a common landscaped recreation area adjacent to all three buildings.

As in previous construction projects, RPM Development is working with consultants to continue its efforts in building sustainable, affordable housing. In two recent developments (West Side Village, and Dr. King Plaza), RPM employed new building techniques to achieve new levels of sustainability and energy efficiency and dramatically improve living conditions for tenants. For example, Bonded Wood fiber insulation and thermal insulated fiberglass windows are just a few of the advancements in construction technology that RPM has incorporated into designs at Dr. King Plaza.