Evergreen Terrace senior citizen housing complex on Leighton Avenue. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
The spot within Montgomery Terrace on Tilton Avenue which the Red Bank Housing Authority is considering for a new 54-unit apartment complex to replace Evergreen Terrace on Leighton Avenue. (Photo by Brian Donohue)
At their May 12 meeting, members of RBHA Board of Commissioners voted to approve a resolution hiring the Alpert Group LLC, a Teaneck-based developer that specializes in affordable and mixed-income residential projects, to design, finance and construct a minimum 54-unit building, according to meeting minutes.
At a meeting of the Mayor and Borough Council in April, RBHA Executive Director Lisa Richardson described the location for the new senior housing as the spot where the Montgomery Terrace complex’s basketball court sits.
The 54-unit building would include 50 senior apartments for residents currently living at Evergreen Terrace, along with four ADA units currently located at Montgomery Terrace, according to minutes of the RBHA May 12 meeting.
In her April update to the council, Richardson said the existing buildings at Evergreen Terrace would be knocked down once residents are moved into the newly constructed building on Tilton Avenue. No one would be displaced, she emphasized.
“The intent is to build first and then move the seniors over,” Richardson said.
The RBHA would then seek to build new affordable housing on the site on Leighton Avenue just south of Drs. James Parker Boulevard, she said.
Richardson did not have a figure for how many additional units the multiple projects would result in.
“We are looking for more than we already have,” she said in response to a question from Mayor Billy Portman at the April council meeting.
The multiple projects mark arguably one of the largest undertakings in the agency’s history. Officials and residents have long eyed the need for upgrades to both Evergreen Terrace and Montgomery Terrace.
At the May 12 Meeting, the RBHA board also hired an architectural engineering firm to draw up plans for the rehabilitation and modernization of the 66-year-old 40-unit Montgomery Terrace complex “to facilitate the quality standards residents deserve.”
The RBHA is also in the process of converting its properties from a traditional funding model to a system of Section 8 vouchers tied to the property, a move designed to free up other funding sources to rehabilitate and manage the properties.
Richardson told redbankgreen this week said she expects to give another public update on the projects to the council this fall.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
