New York State Homes and Community Renewal

Update: 1:30 p.m. with comments from Steve Hyde, president and chief executive officer of the Genesee County Economic Development Center:

"Through the support of New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, more than $60 million is being invested in Batavia through brownfield redevelopment, historic building renovation, and new construction.

"In this instance, we deeply appreciate the funding support by the New York State Homes and Community Renewal for Ellicott Station. The agency is a tremendous partner in helping to revitalize our community. HCR's support for transformational projects like the redevelopment of Ellicott Station is another significant step forward for our community's continued growth."

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Buffalo developer Samuel Savarino this morning said the allocation of nearly $5.7 million of low-income housing tax credits for the Ellicott Station project is the key to moving the project forward.

“This is the critical component and major milestone,” said Savarino, chief executive officer of the Savarino Companies of Buffalo.

Savarino said that the commitment from New York State Homes and Community Renewal will enable his company to “get the investment in for the tax credits, which we are working on right now.”

“Closing and commencement of construction could occur anywhere between fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of next year,” he said. “That depends on a number of factors, including New York State being ready to close. We’re not the only transaction they have.”

The $22.5 million mixed-use brownfield development project on the site of the former Soccio & Della Penna construction company and Santy’s Tire Sales on Ellicott Street in the City of Batavia has attracted other funding streams and tax incentives since being announced more than four years ago.

Savarino said the HCR award -- reported first on The Batavian -- is a “critical component which all the other commitments of the project which are in place have been waiting for.”

“We’re very pleased to have gotten the award. There are an awful lot of projects and an awful lot of communities competing for these awards, so I think it speaks well (for) not only the project but (also) the efforts of everybody in Batavia. It certainly is good news,” he said.

It is anticipated that construction could last for up to a year and a half.

Andrew Maguire, director of economic development for the Batavia Development Corporation, expressed his thanks to HCR and the Housing Trust Fund Corporation for their continued support and investment into the City of Batavia and its downtown.

“HCR has also provided the city several New York Main Street grant programs in the past that were executed successfully,” he said. “Most recently, the City of Batavia was successful in obtaining an award for another round of New York Main Street grant funding in the tune of $300,000.”

Maguire said state funding sources “will continue to help building owners complete rehabilitation projects with a focus on additional residentials units, which is an identified need in our city and county.”

“As we continue to see increased economic development in our city with catalytic projects like Ellicott Station, and many other projects coming to fruition, HCR, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, and many other state agency programs have been an integral part of that process,” he noted.

Previously: BREAKING: NYS Homes and Community Renewal approves $5,691,573 award for Ellicott Station​

The New York State Homes and Community Renewal agency has approved an award of $5,691,573 for Ellicott Station, a mixed-use brownfield development project to be built on the site of the former Soccio & Della Penna construction company and Santy’s Tire Sales on Ellicott Street in the City of Batavia.

Minutes from a July 14^th teleconference meeting of HCR’s Housing Trust Fund Corporation, a subsidiary public benefit corporation of the NYS Housing Finance Agency, reveal that Savarino Companies of Buffalo, project developer, was one of 19 initiatives receiving assistance.

The minutes also indicate that the committee members "hereby provide that this authorization will lapse after 360 days if a closing on all sources of construction financing sufficient to complete the project has not occurred."

The plan for Ellicott Station, with a price tag of $22.5 million, is to construct a five-story apartment building with 55 new, modern workforce housing units, as well as a brewery, restaurant/beer garden and potential further development on 3.31 acres. It is expected to create 20 jobs in the city’s downtown area.

The venture has received funding ($425,000) from Batavia’s $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award and has been approved for $3.6 million in tax abatements from the Genesee County Economic Development Center.

In December 2016, the project was awarded a $1.9 million Consolidated Application Grant through the Finger Lakes Regional Development Council. It was introduced to the public by Batavia Development Corporation officials at a press conference nine months earlier.

A telephone call and text message to Chief Executive Officer Samuel Savarino have yet to be returned.

Batavia's Acting City Manager Rachael Tabelski said that Savarino Companies have paid all of the building permit fees to the city, a sign that activity could be underway in the near future.

According to its website, the HTFC’s mission is to further community development through the construction, development, revitalization and preservation of low-income housing, the development and preservation of businesses, the creation of job opportunities, and the development of public infrastructures and facilities.

Financing resources include agency-issued tax-exempt, taxable, and 501(c)(3) bonds, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and subsidy loans.

The HTFC also authorized a $4 million award to Home Leasing LLC of Rochester for its Liberty Square project, a 55-unit, four-story apartment building that is under construction on a parcel of land that had been the site of homes at 552, 554 and 556 E. Main St., Batavia.

Twenty-eight of the apartments will be set aside for homeless veterans with the remainder designated as affordable for lower-income residents.

The total cost of that development is expected to exceed $12 million.