Funding secured for Garfield Court rebuild LB Housing Authority receives $4.4M for 140-unit project BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer LONG BRANCH - The Long Branch Housing Authority (LBHA) was awarded funds last week to support its third affordable housing project in the city. On July 5, the LBHA learned that it will be receiving approximately $4.4 million to demolish and rebuild the 70-year-old Garfield Court complex on the corner of Rockwell and Central Avenues. "All [of the units] will have a modern architectural design," said Garrett last week, adding that the current building was constructed in the 1930s and resembled barrack-style housing. The authority applied to the New Jersey Housing Mortgage and Finance Agency for tax credits in April to support the $41 million project to reconstruct the entire building. The LBHA was awarded $1,498,340 million in tax credits with an additional $2,853,970 in balanced housing/home express funds, according to Garrett. He explained that the additional funding needed to complete the two phases of the project will come from additional federal HOPE VI funds, additional grants and the housing authority budget. "We are always looking for grant money," he said. "Right now, we are looking [to secure funds] for the first phase. We haven't started looking for the second phase yet." The first phase of the project will cost approximately $21 million and calls for demolishing the current 162 units of Garfield Court and constructing 67 units, according to Garrett. The site plan also includes a 7,500- square-foot administration community building to serve as the main administrative office, Garrett said. The authority is expected to break ground on the project in October and expects it to be complete by December 2008, he said. The second phase will include the construction of 73 more units, for a total of 140 housing units, and is estimated to cost approximately $20 million. If funding is secured, Garrett said he hopes to break ground on the second phase in October 2008 and complete the project by the following October. All the units in Garfield Court will be rental units for mixed-income residents, according to Garrett, who added, some of the units will be non-income restrictive units. The LBHA has begun to relocate the tenants of the current Garfield Court complex and those residents will have the first option to return to the new units before they are offered to the public, according to Garrett. He added that the authority has accumulated resources in excess of $60 million since 2002 to fund the redevelopment and capital improvements to housing authority buildings in the city. Through its Garfield Court, Seaview Manor and Grant Court projects, along with additional home ownership unit projects, Garrett said the authority will have constructed 275 new units upon completion of all the projects. The Seaview Manor project, on the corner of Seaview and Ellis Avenue, is complete and is fully occupied with 40 families, according to Garrett. The Grant Court project on the corner of Central and Liberty Street is currently in the construction phases, Garrett said.