August 6, 2010: On Wednesday, August 11, at 7pm, at the Rosendale Community Center on Route 32, members of the Rosendale community will have the chance to offer input on Birchez Associates’ recent proposal for affordable senior and workforce housing and a new town hall in the Town of Rosendale. Invited by the town to submit a request for proposal (RFP), Birchez looks to continue its track record of bringing top quality, affordable senior housing to Rosendale, while also providing a unique solution to the town’s need for a new base of municipal operations.
In an effort to maximize sustainability and provide the town with a long-lasting building, Birchez Associates has
proposed that the long-vacant Tillson School be rehabbed as the new Town Hall. The Kingston School District had vacated the Tillson School over 10 years ago and today it sits, on 8.4 acres, just attracting the occasional vandal. Instead, Birchez proposes transforming the existing school plant to a flexible and expandable Town Hall that could accommodate not only current needs but unforeseen needs in years to come (preliminary artist’s rendering pictured). In the interim, the Town could use 14,000 to 20,000 square feet of the structure and dedicate an additional 7,000 to 10,000 square feet to related town offices, community use and/or office rental, creating a Town Hall campus or complex. The site will provide plenty of parking, which may be an issue if the Creek Locks Road site is used for the Town Hall. Plus the location may serve as a magnet for Tillson businesses in this hamlet of the town of Rosendale.
Birchez’ proposal for the rehab of Tillson School envisions a LEED/sustainable approach to this adaptive reuse. “There’s no better way to recycle and be green than to reuse a building for something new,” said Judy Calogero, CEO of the New York Housing Conference and President of Calogero Partners who has participated in Birchez’ proposal. Ms. Calogero is former Commissioner of the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, a key player in affordable housing in the state.
The Residential component in the proposal consists of the construction of up to 72 rental units. Some of the units may be designated rent to buy in the work force housing component; the majority are slated to be affordable senior apartments. The final composition is subject to further input from town residents. Landscaping plans incorporate public access to the Creek which hugs the property. This intergenerational housing concept would be LEED Certified and would incorporate extensive green and sustainable features such as solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, “green/living roofing” and pervious parking.
Birchez Associates recently completed its fifth affordable housing community in Ulster County, The Birches at Chambers, a 67 apartment complex adjacent to both the Chambers Elementary School and Chambers Court, a 72 apartment complex and the first affordable housing community Birchez built just six years ago. The Birches at Chambers, already certified by the New York State Energy & Development Agency (NYSERDA) as an Energy $mart Building, is on track to be the second largest multifamily – anywhere – to be certified as LEED (Leader in Energy & Environmental Design) Platinum by the Green Building Council.
Last year Birchez completed The Birches at Esopus, an 80 unit affordable senior community in Ulster Park. This was the first low-rise multifamily complex to be certified as an Energy $mart Building by NYSERDA. The Birches at Esopus garnered the 2010 Project of the Year – Upstate award by the New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH) and is currently one of four national finalists for Senior Project of the Year in a competition sponsored by Affordable Housing Finance Magazine (the winner will be announced in the November issue). Details on the existing Birchez Associates communities can be found on its website: http://www.Birchez.com.
The full proposal from Birchez Associates can be found on the Town of Rosendale’s website here: http://www.townofrosendale.com/forms/Birchez.pdf. The executive summary can be found at pages 18-19. The proposal includes summaries of the proposed Town Hall project at the Tillson School, the Residential project on Creek Locks Road, and the Sewer Upgrade & Backup Water Supply project to which Birchez has proposed contributing substantially to the cost of grant submissions. (Note: the file is large, and will take a few minutes to open or download.)
Contact: K.J. McIntyre, Director of Marketing, Birchez Associates, 843-532-7528 or kjmcintyre@birchez.com