Watkins middle school project gets $3.8M grant

WATKINS GLEN--The Watkins Glen middle school apartment conversion project received additional state money last week. A $3.8 million grant was awarded to Serving the Elderly through Project Planning (S.E.P.P) Inc. to convert the middle school into 52 units of affordable housing for seniors. The total project cost is nearly $14 million and includes $900,000 previously awarded to the project by the Empire State Development Corporation as part of the 2013 Regional Council Consolidated Funding Application.
The grant was part of $95 million allocated by the state toward the construction of affordable housing. The funds, available through the New York State Homes and Community Renewal Unified Funding Application, will help to convert the building into 51 new apartment units for elderly residents age 55 and older who have incomes up to 80 percent of the average median income (AMI). The work will begin following the conclusion of the school year, with the building’s gymnasium and auditorium remaining open to be used as civic space for the village of Watkins Glen.
The district initially sold the middle school building last year for $550,000 as part of their plan to consolidate all grade levels into a single campus. While S.E.P.P. does not plan to change the exterior look of the building much, Deputy Director Tony Fiala said there will be an additional parking lot for residents along with a grassy area where the current playground is located. Fiala said he does not think there will be many modifications needed for the front part of the building. The initial sales agreement was contingent upon S.E.P.P. securing funding for their project, and Fiala said it would not have happened without the $3.8 million grant.
“The project would have not come to fruition,” Fiala said. “We would have had to reapply. We were lucky because a lot of times you don’t get it in the first round.”
Fiala said they plan to begin work in the first week of August and finish in a 22 and 24 month timeframe. Fiala estimated rents will cost between $700 to more than $1,000 a month, adding six or seven of the apartments will be two-bedroom units.
Applicants competed for the funding from low-interest loans through the Low Income Housing Trust Fund Program, Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, the HOME Capital Program, State Low Income Housing Tax Credits and the state’s Urban and Rural Community Investment Fund. Statewide, the funding is intended to create and preserve more than 2,000 units of affordable housing.