Work on a new 80-unit apartment complex in Glasco, given final approval last month by the town planning board, could begin this spring, said Kingston-based developer Paul Page. “It may take a couple of years to complete, but we will be building straight through, not in phases,” he said.
As the first buildings are completed, the apartments will be rented, Page said. The Glasco project will be similar to Page’s Orchard Hills Apartments in Kingston.
The plan calls for eight two-story buildings, each containing eight to twelve apartments. Parking for 141 cars would be provided on-site. The planning board voted unanimously to approve the project at its December 19 meeting.
Given the history of the site — which includes a rent-subsidized project that was eventually withdrawn as a result of public protests and failure to secure state funding — Page emphasized that these apartments would not be subsidized. Rents would be at current market rates. One-bedroom apartments, approximately 700 square feet, would rent for $1175 per month, which includes heat, water and membership in IXL Health and Fitness Club in Barclay Heights, Page said.
His target market includes young professionals as well as retirees. Page thinks these groups would see health club membership as an attraction. Orchard Hills rentals in Kingston also include a fitness club membership. Two-bedroom, 900-square-foot apartments would rent for $1350 per month, including all utilities except electricity and a small water and sewer fee, Page said. While units would not contain washers and dryers, hookups for these appliances are installed in the apartments. “People often have washers and dryers they want to bring with them when they move,” Page said.
Glasco is an attractive hamlet, and, said Page. “I think the demand is there for this kind of housing.”
The two-story buildings would have one apartment downstairs and one up. Apartments would have balconies, and the area would be landscaped, Page said. Storage areas for such personal property as bicycles, grills and small furniture items would provided in each building, but storage of such items on balconies or patios would not be allowed, he told the planning board.
One of the planners’ requests included a link to a neighboring development to allow traffic to enter Route 32 through a common driveway. This link appears on the plans. Planners also questioned the relatively small amount of greenery shown on the plans, which, Page explained, was because the specific varieties of street trees have not been determined. He invited board members to see how his development in Kingston is landscaped.
In this post-recession market, there is more demand for rental housing as people no longer believe that the price of a house is guaranteed to increase over a few years. The different market, and the increasing demand that workers, particularly younger skilled workers, move periodically to find better jobs, means that the demand for rental housing will most likely continue to increase over the next few years, Page thinks.
The Farmhouse Commons site has had a checkered past. The first development proposed for the site consisted of upscale apartment buildings. That plan fell by the wayside as the developers decided to take advantage of subsidies offered for the construction of housing for low-income workers. Although the developer, Larry Regan, assured neighbors that this would not be “welfare housing,” protests by Glasco residents and failure to obtain state funding eventually killed that project.