Irvington plans on quality affordable housing for its residents

IRVINGTON, NJ — According to Mayor Tony Vauss and his administration, Irvington is in search of different ways to beautify the town and make it more inhabitable, such as turning the defunct Irvington General Hospital into a mixed-income community, the opening of the newly built Walgreens and Irvington being home to the state’s third highest volume bus system, with buses traveling hourly to and from New York City.

Plans are in place to take the grassy corner area of 722 Chancellor Ave. and transform it into a 100 percent affordable apartment community, becoming the southern housing complex of Irvington to correspond with the northern housing complex, what was once Irvington General Hospital and is now 280 Park Place.

With the help of a joint venture between The NRP Group, a national real estate company, and local developer/entrepreneur Adenah Bayoh, the force behind 280 Park Place, as well as four local International House of Pancakes and the Cornbread restaurant in Maplewood, Vauss is striving to make the future housing complex of 722 Chancellor Ave. a place where residents would want to live, instead of being there out of necessity.

Vauss said there should never be a need for our working families to leave Irvington in search of affordable housing.

“As the mayor of the township of Irvington, I work hard, every day, to fulfill my campaign promise to make Irvington clean and safe,” Vauss said in a quote sent to the Irvington Herald on Friday, Dec. 13. “Fostering economic development is an indispensable prong of that effort. Irvington’s hard-working residents have made great strides in nurturing the green shoots of a long-heralded economic renaissance. We want to continue to build upon these great achievements that Irvington’s residents have worked so hard to gain. We need to keep the momentum going. We want Irvington to be the premiere option for quality affordable housing.”

“There should never be a need for our working families to leave Irvington to search for affordable housing,” he continued. “We want our township to be the place where you can find affordable housing that will bring people of diverse backgrounds together in the community.”

Planning to see this project come to fruition and transform the huge area into a vivid five-story apartment community is Irvington’s own Bayoh, who grew up in public housing while attending Irvington public schools, after escaping war in Liberia, and now has $250 million in urban redevelopment projects to accompany her experience.

Influenced greatly by her upbringing with her grandmother, which she says is the reason as to why she’s successful today, Bayoh said she wants to take this opportunity to make the vacant lot something valuable within the town.

“We have plans to make 722 Chancelor Ave. 100 percent affordable,” Bayoh said during a phone interview with the Irvington Herald on Friday Dec. 13. “I feel as though I have the opportunity to take something and make it meaningful, productive and valuable.”

Funded by Bayoh and NRP Group, the project will cost an estimated $16 million. Bayoh said this project stemmed from her desire to revitalize the community.

“This project was completely my idea,” said Bayoh. “Revitalizing Irvington communities is very important to me. I’ve always been fascinated by the urban space and transforming it into something beautiful.”

If the beauty of the complex is the goal, Bayoh is planning to outdo herself with this project, a five-story luxury tower with 56 apartment units, each with spacious layouts and a 1,600 square-foot community space on the bottom, energy-efficient systems, a fitness and wellness center, laundry facilities and off-street parking, as well as some high-end amenities.

Partnering with local service providers such as The Urban League of Essex County and the YMCA of Greater Newark, residents will have access to a variety of on-site services, including adult education, financial literacy, employment coaching and social service case management.

With the project being in the planning stages for four years, Bayoh said she has been working with Vauss for longer than that.

“Tony and I have an amazing working relationship,” Bayoh said. “I found Tony to be extremely interested in how he can make Irvington better and affordable. I’ve been working with him on this project for a long time and even before that.”

As Irvington is eligible for a 9 percent tax credit, the township is on the list of the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency’s targeted municipalities in the state that are eligible for low-income tax-credits and, if they are handpicked to receive aid, the project will receive the green light to be built.

Bayoh says Irvington is waiting to be chosen.

“We’re waiting for the state to issue a non-NJ Housing Financing Agency, to see if we can receive aid to build the project,” she said. “We are advocating for the 9 percent tax credit. The more the agency hears about us, the better. We just applied for aid this year. You have to be chosen to get aid. We’re waiting and, hopefully, we’ll get an answer this month.”

The project is currently waiting to find out if it will be awarded the 9 percent low-income housing tax credit from the state. Without the credit, there’s no telling what certainty the future of the project will have.

But just because Irvington is playing the waiting game, doesn’t mean the uncertainty has shaken Bayoh’s faith in the project. She says she’s confident they’ll get an answer soon.

“Our chances are high to get hand-picked,” she continued. “Hopefully, they’ll see that there’s a need for affordable housing in Irvington.”

Vauss is also confident to the possibilities this project can bring to the community.

“This project would transform what has been an abandoned vacant lot into a vibrant, five-story apartment community,” Vauss said. “I can see this project creating ripples far beyond the building’s physical footprint and encouraging the growth of an entire town.”

If Irvington is hand-picked to receive aid and gets the credit, construction can begin as early as late spring 2020.

Photo Courtesy of Tony Vauss.

  Adenah Bayoh, Mayor Tony Vauss