At its monthly meeting last night, the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners voted to make Mountco Construction & Development, headquartered in Scarsdale, its partner in creating new housing to replace Bliss Towers and Columbia Apartments. The responses to HHA's RFQ (request for qualifications) had been reviewed by an evaluation committee, and Mountco was the committee's recommendation to the board. Below are photographs, found on the Mountco website, showing recently completed projects in New York City.
Mountco is currently working on Phase 1 of a three-phase project for the Kingston Housing Authority. Addressing the HHA board last night, Joel Mounty, president and principal of Mountco, mentioned, as evidence of people's satisfaction with their work, that the group had recently been hired for Phase 2 of the Kingston project.
Quncie Williams, of Alexander Gorlin Architects, who was introduced as the architect for the HHA project, told the board, "Our mantra is improving local communities through good design."
When commissioners brought up tenants' concerns about relocation, they were assured that Mountco has done nineteen similar projects successfully. John Madeo, executive vice president of Mountco, said they worked to build trust, meeting with the tenants and sharing information on a regular basis. He also indicated that a relocation plan is part of the funding application, and they are obligated to implement the plan outlined there. Mary Decker, one of the two resident commissioners, asked if the current residents will have a say in what the buildings look like. She was told, "They can't design the project, but they can provide input."
After the vote was taken, Revonda Smith who chairs the board told Mountco, "I'm grateful that you guys even looked our way." Mounty responded by sharing that the company's motto in business is, "If we're not going to enjoy it, it's not going to be built." He went on to say, "If you don't see a Mountco person coming out, if you're not happy to see us, then we're not doing the right job."
Only four of the seven members of the Board of Commissioners were present for the discussion in executive session and the vote: Smith, Decker, Rebecca Wolff, and Nick Zachos. The other three commissioners--Rebecca Borrer, Claire Cousin, and Anthony Bennett--were absent. The makeup of the evaluation committee has never been made public, but last night Jeffrey Dodson, HHA executive director, revealed that Michelle Tullo, Housing Justice Director, and Michael Hofmann, Mayor's Aide, were part of the evaluation committee.
COPYRIGHT 2023 CAROLE OSTERINK
The housing projects pictured and the ones on Mountco's website all look like horrific monstrosities. They might fit well in the Bronx, but not in Hudson. The city needs to immediately place a ban on any new construction higher than three stories. Failure to do this will lead to serious, permanent damage to Hudson.
ReplyDeleteThere already are height restrictions in Hudson's code.
DeleteBut they don’t apply to federally owned land — like where the high rise is now.
DeleteThanks for the correction.
DeleteThis is the future of hudson -- low rise 3 story housing like "River Terrace", where most of the crime and mayhem in the City of Hudson takes place.
We will just have twice as many, or three times as many, places for crimes to occur.
The pictured housing projects look horrendous, worse than Bliss Towers. I don't care for anything the HHA is doing. We have fought long and hard for the character of this city, with our own sweat equity in restoring and improving buildings, with a Preservation Commission, etc and it is still going to be destroyed as it was with 'Urban Renewal'. We need another 'Friends of Hudson'.
ReplyDeleteLet's see what they come up with - hopefully some low-rises with a backyard garden space.
ReplyDelete