Long Branch Housing Authority Gets Funding For Upcoming Projects

By Christopher Sheldon

The Long Branch Housing Authority (LBHA) is growing the number of housing units it has in the city.

LBHA Executive Director Tyrone Garrett announced last week that the authority has received tax credit financing from the Housing Mortgage and Financing Agency (HMFA) to complete the final phases of its latest housing projects, the Woodrow Wilson apartments and the Gregory School project.

The LBHA received about $13 million in tax credit financing for the second phase of the Gregory School project and about $15 million for the second phase of the Woodrow Wilson project. Those totals also include monies from a Community Development Block Grant awarded to the LBHA.

The original Woodrow Wilson housing complex was comprised of 136 units, which have now been demolished. With the new tax credit award from the HMFA, the LBHA will be constructing 174 units. The third phase of the project will include the construction of the last 52 units.

The Woodrow Wilson apartments are located between High Street and West End Avenue. 

The Gregory School project will include building 117 units at the site of the old Gregory School at the corner of Joline Avenue and Seventh Avenue. The second and final phase of the project will include the construction of 52 new units.

Garrett said the tax credit financing has been awarded for most of the LBHA's housing projects and has helped increase the number of units it offers.

"Before Woodrow Wilson and Gregory School, the LBHA had 588 units, by completion of all our phases of reconstruction and redevelopment, we will have 745 total housing authority units in the city of Long Branch," Garrett said.

Gregory School Project Director Sam Leone, of Conifer, said the first phase of the project should wrap in November and that the second phase should begin in December.

Penrose Development Officer Jacob Fisher said the Woodrow Wilson housing project's first two phases are still under construction, with first phase receiving a certificate of occupancy in November and the second phase receiving one a month later. He said the third phase should begin later this year and the entire project should be completed by the end of next summer.