TAX CREDITS GRANTED FOR E SQUARE PROJECT
2 previous applications submitted by RUPCO had been rejected by state
The third time was the charm for RUPCO.
After twice having its applications turned down, the affordable housing agency has been awarded the state tax credits it needs to build its planned Energy Square apartment and commercial building on Cedar Street in Midtown Kingston.
“We have been funded for Energy Square,” RUPCO spokeswoman Tara Collins said in an email Thursday afternoon.
Collins’ announcement came just hours after she told the Freeman the agency was still “working on” securing the tax credits.
RUPCO’s second application for the tax credits was rejected by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal this past June, prompting a third try. The first application was turned down a year before the second.
In October, RUPCO was granted an extension of the permits issued by the city for the Cedar Street project to allow more time for the credits to come through.
RUPCO said in a press release Thursday that the tax credits, awarded by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, are “highly competitive” and that it was one of only five agencies to receive them in the current round.
“The projects must meet state housing goals, including the creation of mixedincome housing, proximity to public transportation, placement in strong school districts, or the provision of support services for formerly homeless individuals or those with special needs,” the agency said in the press release.
“RUPCO will receive an annual allocation of ... housing tax credits that will yield private investment of well over $11 million along with $4,824,272 in grant sources designed to create affordable and
“RUPCO will receive an annual allocation of ... housing tax credits that will yield private investment of well over $11 million along with $4,824,272 in grant sources designed to create affordable and middle-income housing and foster community development.” — RUPCO press release
middle-income housing and foster community development,” the release stated. “The funding will enable RUPCO to build Energy Square .... ”
Construction of Energy Square, or E Square, is to start in the spring and be completed in the fall of 2019, RUPCO said. The general
contractor will be Troybased U.W. Marx.
E Square, designed by Dutton Architecture of Kingston and estimated to cost $22.6 million, will be a 70,000-square-foot building at 20 Cedar St. made up of two three-story sections, one four-story section and one five-story section. It will be built on the site of the former Mid-City Lanes bowling alley, which closed in mid-2014 and will be torn down.
RUPCO acquired the former bowling alley this past September, with NeighborWorks Capital providing financing for the $615,109 purchase.
The first floor of the new building is to be occupied by commercial enterprises and civic tenants, such as the Center for Creative Education. The upper stories are to have a total of 57 apartments, nine of which will be market-rate units, intended for tenants
with annual incomes up to 90 percent of the area’s $70,650 median for a family of four. Other apartments will be intended for people earning 60, 50 and 30 percent of the area’s median income.
Rents will be vary based on income. One-bedroom apartments will range from $411 to $883 per month; two-bedrooms units will range from $883 to $1,237; and three-bedroom apartments will range from $1,020 to $1,428.
The plan calls for three apartments that will have three bedrooms each, eight units with two bedrooms, 44 with one bedroom, and two studio apartments.
There also will be an urban park and 160-kilowatt solar energy array on the roof, as well as a stormwater collection system that would require use of the city infrastructure.
The E Square project also will benefit from a 32-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, deal that was approved in March.
The deal calls for RUPCO to pay a total of $25,000 for the first two years of the PILOT; $82,000 per year for each of the next 10 years; $89,000 per year for each of the following 10 years; and $96,000 per year for each of the final 10 years.
The payments are to be divided among the city, Ulster County and the Kingston school district.