Joe Iorio, managing partner of Arcadia Management, presented a proposal for what he touted as the first green-friendly apartment building in Long Beach at the West End Neighbors Civic Association meeting last week.
The building would be constructed at property Arcadia owns at 158 New York Ave., which includes an adjoining strip of storefronts on West Beech Street.
“The building is being built with the highest regards to the carbon footprint that everybody else is leaving in New York,” Iorio told residents during the meeting at the People’s Church on Delaware Avenue Aug. 29.
With plans to employ solar power, Arcadia is pursuing a LEED certification, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. “It provides a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions,” said Iorio, who stated that he wants to pass the expected utilities-savings on to future residents.
Arcadia originally proposed a building with 30 units and parking, but pulled its application just before a Long Beach Zoning Board of Appeals hearing in July. After further evaluation, Iorio reduced the proposal to 27 units. Under the new blueprints, there are seven two-bedroom units and 20 other units that are a mix of one-bedroom and studio apartments.
Iorio also pitched the project as a place to bring “affordable” rentals to Long Beach.
“I am mainly looking for retired people,” he said. “People raise their families here and then want to sell their homes, but want to remain in Long Beach and are not able to do so because of the lack of affordable rentals.”
The proposed building would be five stories, with the first story devoted to parking, and would overlook the parking lot at the Long Beach Catholic Regional School between West Penn Street and West Broadway. Iorio said the building would be the same height as the school’s gymnasium and would not obstruct neighbors’ views.
Each unit would have a parking space and the two-bedroom units would have tandem spaces, at no extra cost to the resident, Iorio said. In all, the parking lot would have 33 individual spaces, eight tandem spaces and two handicap spaces, as well as an area to park 40 bicycles. A wall will surround the parking lot so that car headlights would not disturb neighboring buildings or homes.
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The parking lot entrance and exit would be installed on New York Avenue, and Iorio said that it would not disturb the flow of traffic. The building’s door entrances would be located on West Beech, New York and West Penn.
Studio apartments of 600 square feet would start at approximately $1,300. One-bedroom units of 994 square feet would range from $1,800 to $2,200. Each apartment would be equipped with free wifi and a washer dryer.
At last week's meeting some residents voiced concern that the building could be turned into Section 8 housing. Iorio said that he had no such intentions, and would have no problem writing that in the deed. “I can guarantee it,” he vowed.
Iorio said that, contingent on weather conditions and his obtaining building permits, the apartments could be constructed in just under a year. He assured residents that there would not be any road closures due to the construction. “We will spend the time to get it done the right way,” he added.
Based in Long Beach for 47 years, Arcadia Management has built and owns multiple apartment buildings and homes in the city. Among its developments is an area on Pennsylvania Avenue, called Penn Quarter, consisting of five homes. Iorio said the company contributes, on average, about $285,000 a year in taxes to the city, and the new building would generate $150,000 a year in taxes.
Residents expressed mix thoughts about the project.
“I think that it is a great idea,” Mary Lou Monahan said. “There is a real demand for it because people want to downsize and still stay in Long Beach. I think it should be very successful.”
However, James Lynch, a resident of the nearby Walks neighborhood, said he liked Iorio’s presentation but had reservations about the project. “I am opposed to the project as it is now,” he said. “The density of 60 feet is just too high.”
A California Street resident, who declined to be named, told Patch: “On Pennsylvania Avenue he originally wanted to put up 22 condos, but was only allowed to put up five. Everyone on the block was against it, and he disrupted our way of life.”
Iorio asked for residents' support when Arcadia’s application goes to the zoning board at City Hall on Sept. 27.
“I believe in this town; I am looking to be partners with everyone here,” Iorio said at the end of his presentation. “My business is a family business, I have a future here, why would I want to do anything to jeopardize my future or my son’s future?”
The problem isn't stereotyping, you are the exact person we all are so upset and now even angry to be supporting. Poor single mother with at least 3 children, I assume 3 because god forbid your children should have to share a room in less than a 4 bedroom apartment. Poor You! Your husband cheats on you, you leave him and now YOU and YOUR children are our responsibility? I agree with you, you have a right to live in housing that is proper and clean, but YOU should pay for it, not all of the rest of us! NO ONE has the right to bring 3 children into the world and expect everyone else to pay for their decisions. Please listen to yourself it is I, I , I and ME, ME, ME, you feel like everyone owes you and you deserve everything you can think of under the sun. Did you listen to Michelle Obama this week? her father went to work every day with a smile on his face, a walker in his hands, and in serious pain from MS....
I think all the other people on section 8 should be upset at you! YOU ARE THE STEREOTYPE! Your last post is what is wrong with section 8, most government programs in general, and this entire country and our future. You think you are entitled, by right, to EVERYTHING! The stereotype is you!!! You are the problem!
It's affordable to those who can afford it.
"Rooming House" on Pennsylvania Avenue?
Oy vey!
Everyone is allowed to voice opinions or dislikes about a project in a neighborhood. For people to speculate and spread things about my family and business that are untrue is totally unfair. The buildings we currently own since the 70’s are well maintained kept clean. My family invested in this town when people were running from it. The outside facades of the buildings we own came with the buildings and if you think they are eyesores I am truly sorry. If you would like to donate a few hundred thousand dollars to change them we would be open to it. There are many worse buildings around Long Beach that are in disrepair. We are not slumlords or run tenements nor do we want to be we are hard working people who provide a service in this neighborhood. If you would like to see what we have built recently in the West end and how we will build please go to the end of Penn street and look down Penn court.
No attack here on you or your father's landlording. I know the business and give him the credit he's due. Nor do I dispise anyone turning a profit on his hard work and the risk he took investing in what was in the 1970's a run-down Democrat-run slum. But I do feel that hi density housing would be detrimental to the West End. No hard feeling toward your seeking a variance. From your point of view it would be a million dollar gift from the Democrats whom you've financially supported. A typical Long Beach Quid pro quo, so to speak. Good for you, certainly. Good for the community, certainly not. Long Beach has brought me a good income and a great return on my hard work and investment. It has given my family a good place to live. I put my family first. I don't want to see more high density housing in Long Beach.
The community does not resent you or your family, only the size of this project which the community feels is too big for the West End. I like your project, but it is going to face an uphill battle unless the Democrats on the Zoning Board and the Realtors on the City Council are on your side. Money talks doesn't it?
They bare clean, well maintained and filled with working people that need the housing. They have paid untold taxes on these properties, as well, while HUNDREDS of their neighbors steal from renting ILLEGAL apartments. They pocket the ENTIRE income causing YOU to pay more in taxes. I say good luck to the Iorios and maybe some of you rats that are getting down on them should turn in your thieving neighbors instead.
Anyone that turns in an illegal rental gets 35% of the fine. Bounty hunters can rack up 30, 40, 50 or more in a single month. The bounty hunters can brought in from private investigative firms that need the work. In less than a year, the entire out of control illegal rental market would be gone.