SARATOGA SPRINGS — Waiters, waitresses, police officers and schoolteachers are some of the people working in Saratoga Springs who may have the opportunity to live in the city with the development of some new, affordable, workforce housing units on the city’s west side. It’s called the Promenade, and it’s slated for completion in the spring.
The Promenade apartments feature 63 new rental units. The project consists of a four-story mid-rise building that will house 41 one and two-bedroom apartments and three townhouse apartment buildings featuring 22 apartments made up of 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments.
This workforce housing project targets a wide range of income levels - including 30%, 50%, 60% and 80% of the area median income, or AMI thresholds. The AMI for Saratoga Springs is about $70,000 says Paul Feldman, executive director of the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority, and president of Promenade Development – which is an affiliate of the SSHA and is the company that owns the 63-unit project.
In actual dollars, that translates to a monthly one-bedroom rent range of $340 - $1,090 for an average 759 square feet; two- bedroom range from $399 - $1312 (995 sq. ft. avg.), and a three-bedroom range from $453 - $1522 (1348 sq. ft. avg.). Ten of the units will be set aside for veterans who have been or are at risk of homelessness and / or who have a disability.
The development is sited on South Federal Street, behind the Stonequist high-rise apartments (41 apartments), and on West Circular Street- where there will be 22 apartments in three townhouses.
Two of the townhouses are completed and availability still exists for two-bedroom units. “The third townhouse and the four-story mid-rise (comprised largely of one-bedroom units) are both projected to be completed by May 1,” Feldman said.
“We have been accepting applications and are starting the process of determining eligibility of those applicants for a projected May 1 move-in date. We strongly encourage people to get their applications in now.”
“When I took over the housing authority about five years ago, we identified at that point that of all the housing built in the past decade or so none of it was considered to be affordable housing; it had been over a decade since any affordable housing had been built,” Feldman said.
“A large segment of Saratoga Springs employment is the hospitality industry, not to mention the hospital workers – and the majority of the money those employees made did not allow them to live in Saratoga Springs, because of the outrageous cost of apartments.”
Input was gleaned from agencies such as the Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association and the county Chamber of Commerce.
“Their plight was of being able to keep employees. They wanted to have affordable housing so they could keep their work force local,” Feldman said. “And it’s not only the restaurant and hospitality industry, but professions like teaching, or police. They can even afford to live in the city. New police officers, new teachers who start out at $40,00 a year. They can actually afford to live in Saratoga Springs now. This will provide more options for people. We started on the path maybe four years ago and it’s now coming to fruition. Both of these projects should be completed in May.”
Applications are being accepted online at saratogaspringspha.org/promenade. For more information visit the Promenade web site, or call SSHA at 518-584-6600.
