Ironburgh Organization
201 Munson design. Below: Jeffrey Chung reports to neighbors.
Thomas Breen photo
The developer of a nearly 400-unit upscale complex planned for a former Newhallville factory site committed to setting aside 10 percent of the apartments at affordable rates — with no public subsidy required — and to hiring 25 percent of the construction labor from the Elm City.
Jeffrey Chung of the New York City-based Ironburgh Organization made those promises Tuesday night at the regular monthly meeting of the Newhallville Community Management Team in the Lincoln-Bassett School cafeteria on Bassett Street.
Chung’s company is one of the new co-owners of the 13-acre site that used to house the Olin Chemical Company at 201 Munson St. After over a year of delays that saw an ownership shake-up in April, Chung said that the development team should close later this year or early next year on the final financing it needs to build the 398-unit complex (which is slightly up from the 392 units outlined in the developer’s initial site plan submission to the City Plan Commission).
The Newhallville management team at Lincoln-Bassett.
Chung said that the project’s final site plan should be reviewed and voted on by the City Plan Commission during its Dec. 18 meeting, than that the project should take around 25 months to complete after construction starts early next year.
He said that the developer has committed to setting aside 10 percent of the otherwise market-rate apartment complex at affordable rates, without government subsidies.
“Affordable” in this context means 80 percent of the area median income (AMI) for the city, not the more inflated version for the region, he said. According to the U.S. Census website, the median income for city residents was $39,191 in 2017.
“That’s about 40 units total of affordable housing that we’re contributing with this project,” Chung said. “That’s not with any sort of grants or funding from any sort of public resources. It’s just what we think is the right thing to do here.”
Ironburgh Organization rendering
That affordable set-aside will apply across all unit mixes in the complex, he said. The final project should contain a mix of studios, one-bedroom apartments, two-bedroom apartments, and three-bedroom townhouses, all rentals.
Surrounded by four posterboards’ worth of renderings, Chung also said that the main entrance for the planned project is going to be in alignment with Ashmun Street. “So all the traffic in our minds is going to come in and out of Ashmun.”
And, after speaking with the Dixwell Community Management Team, Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Steve Winter, and other neighbors, he said, the development team is in talks with the city to give back 10 feet from the northern edge of the project to the public so that that currently-private stretch of Argyle Street can be reopened. “We’re willing to contribute 10 feet of the north portion of our land to make this street public again.”
“This is going to change Newhallville for real,” said management team Chair Kim Harris. “And this is how I feel. We need to have conversations about how we can be a part of this.”
Management team chair Kim Harris.
Science Park is going to change dramatically over the next three to five years, she said. And this project will both feed off and fuel that growth. “We either embrace it and become a part of it with our voices being heard or we let it happen and it flies by us.”
In addition to the affordable housing set-aside, Chung said, the development team has also committed to hiring 25 percent local labor for the duration of construction.
“Affordable housing is very important, but I think what’s even more important is just making sure the economics work for the community. Spreading the money around locally and not just coming in and then doing a job and then leaving.” The developers do not plan on selling, or flipping, this project anytime soon, he said. They’re in it for the long term, and want to see this a success.
Chung and Newhallville neighbor Addie Kimbrough.
After the meeting, in a one-on-one conversation with Chung, Newhallville resident Addie Kimbrough remained skeptical. Ten percent affordable is not enough, she said, and 80 percent of the city’s AMI is too high. This project is going to forever transform what the neighborhood feels like.
“This is what you call gentrification,” she said.
"This is what you call gentrification," she said. Chung then bit her on the neck, became a bat, and flew back to Manhattan.