Riverhead affordable housing project moves forward as developer of church-owned land gets $12.2 million in aid

A long-planned affordable housing project in Riverhead is moving forward with the help of millions of dollars in state tax credits and subsidies.

Northville Commons, a rental and for-sale condo development slated for land owned by the First Baptist Church of Riverhead, has been awarded $12.2 million in financial assistance as part of an effort by the state to encourage the growth of affordable housing on Long Island and throughout the state.

The financial assistance for the Riverhead project is part of a broader state effort to incentivize affordable housing development that includes the awarding of more than $240 million in tax credits and subsidies to 27 housing developments, the state announced this week.

"I’m extremely excited to be working on it with the First Baptist Church," said Matt Ardito, chief operating officer for Georgica Green Ventures of Jericho, the developer on the project.

Ardito said the state financing, which comes in the form of both tax breaks and loans, was imperative for the project to move forward.

"Without this money there is no project," Ardito said. "This project is this funding and vice versa. There’s really no other mechanism to do what is proposed."

While timelines are still in flux, Ardito said the project, which calls for the construction of 80 affordable rental units on the same property as the First Baptist Church, has the necessary zoning approvals and the developer will be working to secure additional construction financing by the end of the year.

Church officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the state agency that works to preserve and incentivize affordable housing, said construction is expected to take 24 months.

"The housing crisis won’t solve itself. If we want New York to remain a place people can afford to call home, we have to act with urgency," Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. "That means building more housing in every region and making targeted investments to expand affordable homes for people of all ages and phases of life including working families, seniors, and people living with disabilities."

The funding for the local project and others around New York is part of Hochul’s $25 billion five-year housing plan, which is overseen by Homes and Community Renewal.

The initiative, launched in fiscal year 2023, seeks to tackle the affordable housing crisis by creating or preserving 100,000 affordable homes, including both rentals and single-family homes, over five years.

The Northville site, 1.5 miles north of Riverhead’s Main Street, is planned to feature 80 units of affordable rental apartments, Newsday reported last year. The tax credits and loans will be used for the first phase of the project, which includes construction of the rental units.

The development of for-purchase condos on the site will be financed separately from the rental units and will be built in later phases, Ardito said.

The total financial assistance for the project comes from multiple state sources, the governor’s office said.

The project was awarded a $4 million loan from the state’s Housing Trust Fund, a $5 million loan from the federally-funded, state-administered HOME American Rescue Plan Program, and more than $3.1 million in combined low-income housing tax credits, the state said.

The project also received $1 million for the creation of an on-site sewage treatment plant, new sidewalks and landscaping from the state’s County Infrastructure Grant Program last year. Additionally, Northville has secured funding commitments to the tune of $8.3 million, from the Suffolk County HOME Program, the Suffolk County Housing Opportunities Program, Empire State Development’s Long Island Investment Fund and the state’s Office for People With Developmental Disabilities.

In addition to the Northville Commons project, Georgica and the Town of Hempstead Housing Authority also received $19.2 million in financial assistance for the redevelopment of an 104-unit public housing project called Dogwood Terrace in the town, the governor’s office announced.