While the topic of affordable housing is one that is frequently discussed nationwide, it’s an especially salient topic in Suffolk County. Making Suffolk more affordable and attractive to retain the working-age population is chief among many priorities of elected officials of both parties and across multiple levels of government. The concept of workforce housing is one that has introduced a new edge for Suffolk moving forward, both in retaining working-class residents, reaping economic benefits of a self-sustaining economy, and utilizing good stewardship of land for development.
Friday morning was host to a groundbreaking ceremony for the Grove Apartments in East Patchogue, a new affording and supportive housing project that will consist of a three-building rental complex at the near-three acre lot that has long been vacant at 400 East Main Street. The lot has been vacant for close to fifteen years after the True Value hardware store was razed.
The complex will feature a variety of rental units: twenty-one one-bedroom units, twenty-eight two-bedroom units, and six three-bedroom units. The workforce housing will be available to renters who earn 50% to 90% of the area’s average median income (AMI). As such, rents at the Grove will range from about $1200 to $3000, depending on the tenant’s income.
Additionally, the complex will serve as supportive housing, with seventeen units set aside for domestic violence victims and vulnerable families. Such tenants will be screened by New Ground, a Levittown-based social services provider who will also provide onsite services.
The project is also part of the East Patchogue Incentive Overlay District, an initiative started in 2020 with the goal of revitalizing the Montauk Highway corridor. Finally, the complex will also host a 1,000-square-foot ground-floor space which will be up for lease for small businesses and/or nonprofits.
Local elected and community leaders, as well as organized labor forces broke ground on the project Friday morning. The project is expected to create around 150 construction jobs and will take about eighteen months to complete.
The development is being spearheaded by Georgica Green Ventures, LLC, (GGV) a Jericho-based firm that prides itself on localized, affordable, and sustainable development.
Dave Gallo, President and co-founder, said that while ribbon-cuttings are “easier” since the new project can be physically toured and observed, groundbreakings take more “imagination.” He said that the very parcel of the lot where the groundbreaking was being held would later serve as a community room in Building A, which will contain a fitness room and management offices. He also shared GGV’s vision of walkways, a coffee shop, a flag pole, a clock tower, and outdoor seating for residents.
“There’s going to be the kids with the big backpacks holding onto their parents’ hands, coming home from school, entering in their new affordable housing,” said Gallo. “It’s our passion – some might say it’s our obsession – to work diligently to ensure that we have beautiful apartments, carefully constructed units, and meticulously managed apartments from start to completion. We enter into whole services from development, construction, to property management. We’ve completed over a thousand units here on Long Island just like this. Affordable housing creates jobs, cleans up blighted sites, revitalizes neighborhoods, and of course provides safe, decent, affordable housing.”
Senator Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue) said that when the initial community meetings about the project were held, he said there was a “lot of apprehension,” but after details were revealed and questions were answered, there was much more “excitement.”
“Everyone was so excited about this development project and being able to invite fifty-five new neighbors into the community,” said Murray. “So, I applaud everyone for doing this the right way. Welcome to the community and we look forward to opening and cutting that ribbon.”
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), who made affordability and infrastructure in Suffolk large aspects of his 2023 campaign, said that this was not the “first development that has been proposed for this property,” and that this is the “right development for this property.”
“We want Suffolk County to be multi-generational. We want places for our young people to live, we want them to stay here, to see affordable housing built, and to see our downtown communities revitalized,” said Romaine. “We think all of these things are part of what’s happening in this project. With fifty-five units, commercial establishments on the first floor, and residentials on the second, this is going to fit in great.”
Romaine thanked Focus East Patchogue and the local civic associations for their roles in ensuring the development of the property.
Suffolk County Legislator Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue) listed the many benefits to multiple subsets of the population this project will provide.
“This is going to give our workers, especially our hospital workers, and give them somewhere local to live. It’s going to be great for the kids to have a local playground. It’s going to be great for our main street, and to clear up the aesthetics of East Patchogue,” said Thorne.”
Suffolk County Legislator and Majority Leader Nick Caracappa (C-Selden), who is the Chair of the Public Works Committee, has made workforce housing a top priority of his tenure in the Legislature.
“We want to keep our young workforce here. We want to keep our families together here. It is incumbent upon us as elected officials, upon GGV, and our residents to commit to making projects like this happen, to bring affordable workforce housing to communities such as East Patchogue and all across Suffolk County,” said Caracappa. “We’re going to be working to get some victims of domestic abuse in here who have overcome some pretty severe challenges in their lives. We’ll also be working on getting some of our Veterans here in this project as well.”
Ruth Anne Visnauskas, NYS Commissioner of Homes and Community Renewal also spoke in support of the project.
“Housing is much more than a brick and mortar. It is much more than a room for one’s head. And projects like The Grove meet an enormous number of goals that we have at the State’s housing agency,” said Visnauskas. “First, it’s going to include seventeen apartments with on-site services for families in need. Second, it has space for New Ground to provide critical education, financial literacy, and career development services right here on site. And third, the Grove is going to be all-electric and utilize on-site solar panels. This is exactly the type of housing that we are looking to establish across New York, but especially here on Long Island. It increases the supply of housing for people at all income levels, at all stages, at all phases of life. It helps people stay and add to the fabric of what’s already a wonderful community, and it lifts people up from difficult circumstances. In many ways, the need is at its highest in places like Long Island because housing costs here are at historic highs and inventory is at historic lows.”
Shannon Boyle, Executive Director of New Ground, says that the company has helped “vulnerable Long Islanders achieve their goals and change the trajectory of their lives” for thirty-three years.”
“Just last week, one of our single moms who came to us homeless over five years ago graduated with her Bachelor in Science Nursing degree. She is now studying for her State Boards,” said Boyle. “She will be able to obtain a job with a starting salary over $100,000 and she will never be homeless again. Imagine the lives that this project will change, just like hers. This has been a long time in the making and it’s a tremendous, tremendous success.”
Gallo says that in order to be ahead of schedule and under budget, work on the project was not suspended for the groundbreaking, as construction vehicles and workers were busy preparing the land for construction as the press conference concluded.
“I can’t wait to see everybody a year from now,” said Gallo, at which point executives, leaders, and elected officials picked up shovels and hard hats to formally begin the development.
The Grove will be located at 400 East Main Street in East Patchogue, on the corner of Main Street and Grove Avenue.