L-R: Ron Gugliotta, Construction Manager – The Fresnel Group, YHA Board Vice Chair Denise Egiziaco, Jenny Freeman, Managing Director of Buildings, Group PMX, Brian Sweeney, CEO Fresnel; Kara Magoolaghan, Mulford Environmental Consultant; Wilson Kimball, YHA’s CEO; Alexis Pelosi, HUD Senior Advisor for Climate, Justin Scheid, HUD Office of Field Policy and Management, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, Carlos Laboy,YHA’s COO and John Drinkwater, Construction Project Manager for La Mora, Group PMX.
The Yonkers Housing Authority was visited by Alexis Pelosi, Senior Advisor for Climate, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, who toured several housing authority sites on September 19 including the new La Mora Senior Housing now under construction.
The $44 million development in the Hollow neighborhood of South Yonkers will create 60 energy efficient and affordable homes for seniors. The project is one of the few modular housing sites in the country using the Passive House model which conserves energy and is self-sufficient and hardened against weather emergencies.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, YHA CEO and President Wilson Kimball, YHA COO Carlos LaBoy and Mulford Environmental Consultant Kara Magoolaghan, CPHD, were among the group touring the properties. Pelosi and Justin Scheid, HUD’s Office of Field Policy and Management, also visited Loehr Court and Palisade Towers to see major renovations undertaken under the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD) and the Ridgeway VI, currently in design phase.
Groundwork Hudson Valley, a nonprofit partner of YHA, spoke about the green infrastructure upgrades planned on the properties and the many ways that the partnership is promoting equity and youth leadership. At Palisade Towers, the group learned about efforts to replace the building’s outdated gas-fired heating and hot water systems, which are at the end of their useful life, with more efficient, all-electric heat pump systems, which will decarbonize the 7-acre property that houses more than 400 families.
The tour concluded at the Ridgeway development, which sits at the former Cottage Place Gardens public housing site. A product of a decade-long partnership with The Community Builders, Ridgeway serves as an inspirational example of a successful and beautiful affordable housing development, serving more than 400 low-income families in Yonkers. The buildings benefit from substantial resiliency measures including rooftop solar and emergency generator power, as well as social programming including an on-site day care facility.
Ridgeway VI, the sixth and final phase of the site, is currently in development, and will create 92 new senior apartments that meet the rigorous energy efficiency standards of Passive House certification and will be all-electric with a natural gas emergency generator.
“The Yonkers Housing Authority was proud to welcome HUD to Yonkers to see the many ways our Mayor and the Housing Authority are preserving affordability while striving to meet the future needs for new, resilient, climate friendly affordable housing,” said Wilson Kimball, President and CEO of the Yonkers Housing Authority.
