Firm's multi-millions in renovations keep Spring Valley rentals affordable
SPRING VALLEY - With large apartment houses being built amid older housing, one group has gone in a different direction by renovating two complexes with 244 apartments for working families.
Started three years ago, the $47 million project has been completed at Lakeview Village on Memorial Park Drive and Highview Apartments at Fred Hecht Drive in the village Hill Section. Lakeview has 144 apartments while Highview has 76.
Spring Valley renovation: 220 units to be modernized, kept affordable
The Hudson Valley Property Group says the work included apartment renovations, exterior building repairs, added security systems, and preserving the affordability of the apartments, including federal rent subsidies for many of the tenants.
The company is owned by two former village residents Jason Bordainick and Andrew Cavaluzzi, They say they have preserved more than 10,200 units across more than 60 properties nationwide, serving more than 20,000 residents.
Rebuilding the two Spring Valley complexes hit home for the duo, both of whom are in their 40s. Bordainick's father, Izzy, is the former North Rockland High School principal. Cavaluzzi's father Robert taught English at Spring Valley High School and his mother taught Spanish at the junior high school.
"Since acquiring these properties in the fall of 2021, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to rejuvenate them into safe and thriving communities that families can call home," Bordainick said.
The Hudson Valley Property Group paid $25.7 million for Lakeview Village and the HighView Apartments.
Their purchase included debt financing and a 4% low-income tax credit from the New York State Housing & Finance Agency and tax-exempt bond financing issued by the Rockland County Industrial Development Agency. Clarkstown and Spring Valley approved property tax abatements.
Spring Valley is a haven for rentals
Spring Valley hosts numerous rental apartment complexes across the 2½-square-mile diverse community. Several have been bought and redeveloped, such as some along Union Road like the former Avon Gardens. Many longtime working class residents have been displaced, unlike at HighView and Lakeview.
Some of the complexes include the 146-bedroom Gesner Apartments on Union Road off Maple Avenue, while the 178-unit Hickory House on Main Street has shareholders and has been undergoing renovations, such as asbestos removal, and legal entanglements. The village's Main Street is lined with apartments over stores along with a housing complex at Maple Avenue from the village's urban renewal project.
Along with housing redevelopment on the Hill Section by HighView Apartments along Bethune Boulevard, the village neighborhoods and some rental complexes have been changing from predominantly working-class tenants and people of color to Hasidic Jewish families.
Rental housing remains affordable
As part of the Hudson Valley Property Group's project, more than one-third of the 244 apartments at Lakeview and HighView receive subsidies through Section 8 vouchers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, known as HUD. The tenants pay 30 percent of their rent under the HUD program and must be income-qualified.
The renovations to both properties amounted to approximately $10 million, averaging $45,000 per unit, the company says.
The improvements included new vanities, toilets, tubs, water-saving bathroom fixtures, and plumbing updates. Kitchens were also revamped with new cabinetry, countertops, high-efficiency stainless steel appliances, high-output lighting, and water-conserving fixtures.
The upgrade included masonry work to the buildings.
"The idea and goal are to make the places where people feel really good about living," Cavaluzzi said during a 2021 interview. "We want people to feel comfortable and safe and proud of where they live."
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Spring Valley rentals kept affordable by property group's renovations
