Ground is broken for Glennview Townhouses 63 mixed-income units

Thursday, October 29, 2009
By CLAIRE MOSES
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

City officials broke ground yesterday at the Lafayette Senior Living Center on Pacific Avenue for a new 63-unit public housing complex. The new development has been named for the late Jersey City mayor Glenn Cunningham.

Construction of the Glennview Townhouses, a mixed-income development, will start in November, said Joan Pollock, director of development and design for the Jersey City Housing Authority.

The late mayor's widow, state Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham, was joined at the ceremony by Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Freeholder Jeff Dublin, Councilwoman Viola Richardson and other officials.

Construction of the rowhouse-style apartments is scheduled to take 14 months, Pollock said. It will replace the Lafayette Gardens public housing project.

"Public housing units should not be distinguishable from other housing units," said Raj Mukherji, chairman of the Jersey City Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. "That's what these units will mark."

The construction of the units are part of a 2001 $34 million federal Hope VI grant, which consists of 8 phases. The Lafayette Senior Living Center and the Barbara Place community center have also been built as part of the grant.

The Glennview Townhouses will cost approximately $21 million to build, Pollock said. Rents will range from $50 to $1,800, depending on the size of the apartment. Of the 63 apartments, 38 will be affordable housing, 17 will be tax credit apartments, and 8 will be rented out at market value.

The ceremony also rededicated Melvin Edwards' sculpture, Holder of the Light, which stood in the entrance of the original Lafayette Gardens, placed there in 1985.

Edwards said he hopes his abstract sculpture will become an integral part of the Glennview Townhouses.

"It's small in comparison," Edwards said, "with the other holder of the light in the neighborhood, which is the Statue of Liberty."