Views from the Northwest Bronx

Renovations, Repositioning, and Hopefully Solar at Rose Hill Apartments

It is a busy time at Rose Hill Apartments, the 119-unit low-income senior citizen affordable housing complex adjacent to Fordham University in the Bronx. Windows in every apartment and the public areas have been replaced, Energy Star refrigerators installed and the brick exterior is being re-pointed. This work is all part of a larger renovation and financial repositioning initiative that will ensure Rose Hill continues to provide decent, affordable, and climate-resilient homes for its senior residents in the years to come.

UNHP has put together a financial and renovation package that will achieve several objectives, including repositioning the expiring Low Income Tax Housing Credit (LIHTC), performing required façade work, undertaking weatherization improvements and upgrades with grant funds, and exploring the installation of solar technology and battery backup for the property.  

Rose Hill apartments was built in 1984 on property obtained from Fordham University’s Rose Hill Bronx campus. The property is adjacent to the campus and offers residents access to the beautiful grounds, and campus activities. Rose Hill was built using HUD Section 202 federal funds and as such provides affordable housing to low-income seniors and those with mobility disabilities along with on-site services that include a community room, access to a social worker, recreational events, and a transport van for shopping and medical appointments. University Neighborhood became involved in the building ownership in 2009 obtaining rehabilitation funding through the LIHTC via JPMorgan Chase and the Richman Group. Renovations at that time included new windows, improvements to the public areas, a new roof, kitchens, and bathrooms.

UNHP is actively and currently working to move forward with a financing and renovation package that includes about $500,000 in Local Law 11 renovations, including pointing, brick replacement, lintel repairs, and the protective shed. An awarded grant by the  NWBCCC NYS Weatherization Program for full window replacement in units, hallways, and the community room, LED unit and public area lighting, complete mechanical ventilation replacement at roof motors and vents, and new refrigerators for tenants will provide needed upgrades, at very little cost to the project. The $500,000 weatherization improvements to the property will come largely as a grant because the building meets the low-income tenancy requirements of the NYS-funded program. The weatherization work has been completed and the façade work is to be completed by the end of October 2024. Rose Hill Apartments will reposition its ownership structure and the expiring LITHC, buying out the Richman Group, and making the limited partnership 100% non-profit owned. UNHP is working with Bellwether Enterprise and its 223F program to refinance existing debt on the building and funding reserves to support the building over the next 30 years. Once the weatherization and facade work is done, UNHP will apply for the Bellwether loan seeking to close in 2024.  

As part of this financing and renovation package, UNHP is looking to build solar power technology into the project. The proposed work to bring solar power to Rose Hill comes on the heels of our successful work in 2023/24 to bring solar energy to seven UNHP affordable multifamily buildings. The use of solar became financially feasible for UNHP due to new streams of funding and credits that include the Federal Inflation Reduction Act, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and the NYC Solar Electric Generating Systems Tax Abatement.  All 7 of the buildings are fully operational and UNHP is tracking the savings. Thanks to a generous grant from the MetLife Foundation for solar technology predevelopment costs, UNHP has engaged Crauderueff Associates as a consultant on the Rose Hill project and will seek an array of public credits to be utilized along with private grants. Crauderueff created specifications and three types of solar arrays are being considered for the project; ballast, tilt-up, and canopy style. Canopy-style solar arrays, although the most expensive, would generate 100% of the public area electricity costs of the project. 

Specifications will also be developed for a Battery Energy Solar Storage System. (BESS). While the BESS adds significantly to the costs, both for the consultant and for the system itself, it would provide great benefit to this project as Rose Hill provides homes to a vulnerable population that needs access to the elevator, public area lighting, and an air-conditioned or heated common space in the event of a loss of electrical power. UNHP will move forward to price out both the Solar PV Array and BESS, estimate the public credit, and seek grant support. 

The financial repositioning, renovations, and solar work will provide benefits to the tenants, the overall project, and the environment. Tenants will benefit from the improvements to their apartments including new windows and refrigerators, as well as improvements to the common areas and community room.  The repositioning and renovations benefit the project by maintaining habitability and affordability for the next 30 years. The solar arrays with the battery backup provide for a reduction in carbon emissions, the use of clean energy in the building, and a borough with high asthma and air pollution levels. The installation of solar panels will not only reduce CO2 emissions in the Bronx, but it will also retrofit this older multifamily property with modern energy sources and reduce the operating costs in this regulated affordable housing project. 

UNHP, a community-based affordable housing developer is involved with 27 housing projects and is fully aware of the struggles to maintain projects, like Rose Hill as affordable and decent. Ongoing rising operating costs, especially property insurance, and local law renovation costs, combined with capped rents, require developers to seek ways to reduce operating costs to ensure the long-term affordability of affordable housing. Rose Hill Apartments like many other community-developed affordable housing projects, operates on a tight budget and is being significantly affected by rising insurance costs (+40%) and compliance costs related to Local Law 11 which addresses Façade Maintenance on buildings over 6 stories and requires engineer inspection and scope of work every 5 years. NYC Local Law compliance has been increasingly burdensome to both owners and managers and while the Laws themselves were written and implemented with the best of intentions, underwriting on Rosehill and many other affordable housing projects did not account for the major capital expenses that come with these requirements. The installation of the Solar PV Panels and BESS will free up funds to benefit the ongoing renovation needs for the property and provide individual apartment upgrades and maintenance into the future.