Cottage Place Gardens Phase III (CPG Phase III)

Organization Name: The Community Builders

Project Title: Cottage Place Gardens Phase III (CPG Phase III)

Project Location: Yonkers, NY

Project Goals:
This project phase, CPG Phase III, continues the strong partnership between The Community Builders, Inc. (TCB) and the Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers (MHACY). The project will transform Southwest Yonkers by replacing three outdated buildings at the Cottage Place Gardens public housing site, and a rapidly deteriorating 21-unit townhouse development at 209 Warburton Avenue, with 70 units of diverse, sustainable, LEED-certified, mixed-income residential rowhouse apartments for families. The project will also rehabilitate a vital day care center in the neighborhood, allowing the center to continue providing critical child care services to low-income families in Southwest Yonkers. This project dovetails with the goals of numerous local revitalization plans, including the Yonkers Choice Neighborhoods Transformation Plan and Warburton-Ravine URA, which both target the CPG redevelopment as central to Southwest Yonkers’ revitalization.

Project Description:
The project will create four new, four-story, rowhouse-style walkup apartment buildings containing 70 units of mixed-income housing for families earning less than 30% AMI, less than 50% AMI, less than 60% AMI, and without income restrictions. The buildings will have green/high performance features in compliance with NYSERDA Multifamily program and LEED for Homes and will serve to re-invigorate pedestrian activity along Warburton Avenue and Willow Place by providing new sidewalks, street trees, and site lighting. The New Little Branches day care center improvements will include structural repairs, roof replacement, upgrades, new finishes, and new mechanical and electrical equipment to supplant the outmoded systems in place today.

Community Impact:
Designed in the 1940s, the original housing is inward facing, isolated and separated from the rest of the city. With TCB and MHACY, Magnusson Architecture and Planning has designed a plan of buildings that are in dialogue with the surrounding architecture. The buildings are outward facing with generous windows, landscaping and shared spaces to promote community and casual meeting between residents. This third phase of the redevelopment will have a significant economic impact by creating over 100 construction jobs over a 16-month period. The construction team for this project will establish ambitious goals for Section 3 (local), MBE, WBE, and DBE utilization to ensure economic impact in the immediate neighborhood is maximized. Going forward, this effort will continue to guide redevelopment towards the community’s goals and objectives, encourage additional investment in the immediate and surrounding neighborhoods, and advance the overall urban renewal effort.

Organization Description:
The Community Builders is one of America’s leading nonprofit real estate developers and owners. TCB’s mission is to build and sustain strong communities where people of all incomes can achieve their full potential. Established in 1964, TCB has constructed or preserved hundreds of affordable and mixed-income developments and secured billions of dollars in financing from public and private sources. TCB currently owns or manages over 11,000 units and has developed or invested in over 885,000 square feet of commercial space across 14 states and Washington D.C. Magnusson Architecture and Planning is a creative design firm based in New York City. For over 30 years MAP has been committed to creating thriving and sustainable communities through excellence in design and planning. MAP endures as an award-winning, comprehensive firm specializing in the design and planning of large scale multi-family residential and mixed-use developments, educational, sacred and civic spaces.