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| New York City Commercial Real Estate News |
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SENIOR DESIGNS COMPLETED
By Lois Weiss
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008 -
Design has been completed on three new buildings for the Senior Residences Project at the First Presbyterian Church of Astoria in Queens by Goshow Architects, a women-owned sustainable design architectural firm.
The 82,500 sf buildings will include 94 units of senior housing, complying with Quality Housing Zoning Guidelines, and 6,000 sf of worship and community space. The senior housing units will be one-bedroom and efficiency units.
The classical structural facades on the church and the church house, with granite columns and a Greek pediment, will be saved and used as free-standing elements at the front of the new buildings.
"This project is on the cutting edge to find new uses for under-utilized religious properties," said Eric Goshow, AIA, LEED-AP, Principal of Goshow Architects. "It responds to the needs for low-income housing and preserves some of the history of the neighborhood."
During design, Goshow reached out to local community groups and the State Historic Preservation Office. The church buildings were not on the register of the historic places landmarked and Goshow designed the project within current zoning.
The facades will be removed and stored off-site while the rest of the current buildings are demolished and the new buildings are constructed. The new buildings also will have exhibition space to document the history of the church and its building.
Nancy Goshow, who is the partner-in-charge on this project added, "There is community opposition to tearing down these grand old buildings, but many churches are no longer financially sustainable. Low income or senior housing is a good use of the land because it fits in with the church's mission. By using some of the features of these 19th and 20th century buildings we create a compromise that works for everyone - the church, the community, and the needs of the neighborhood for senior housing. Saving historic remnants of the older buildings and including them in the design of the new housing structures is a way to honor the past.”
The project is being sponsored, built, and operated by HANAC, the Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Committee. The nonprofit organization's projects include services for senior citizens, youth, employment, education and training, housing and community development, transportation services, substance abuse, crime victims and social services.
Many of congregations are now willing to partner with sponsors of low-income housing to include a more modest sanctuary space within a large building, Goshow noted.
The Presbyterian Church of Astoria will own a 6,000 sf condominium and the first floor community space that will seat up to 150 people will also be used for worship services on Sunday. "With congregations and endowments dwindling, churches must find ways to stay financially viable," says Goshow. "This is a new way to make productive use of church property while giving them a way to maintain and revitalize their congregation and mission."
Goshow Architects has pioneered other supportive housing development needs, including a Bronx apartment building that provides public housing to seniors raising their grandchildren. The first project of its kind in the Northeast, the building also employs sustainable design elements to produce long-term operational savings.
The PCA Senior Housing construction documents are being finalized while financing for the $21 million building is being completed by HANAC through HUD and the Enterprise Foundation. Ground-breaking is scheduled for early 2009.
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