PATERSON, NJ-Construction has started on a project that will turn a former administrative building for a manufacturing company into a 20-unit residential condo building. The project is being done by a local group, Silk Mills Ventures LLC, and is expected to be ready for occupancy in May of next year.

The cost of the project has not been released. However, Community Preservation Corp. of New Jersey, which provides financing for affordable housing, has announced that it has provided as $3.3 million construction loan to Silk Mills Ventures. Annemarie Uebbing, regional director of CPC in New Jersey, says the project "represents an important step in our continuing program to extend home ownership opportunities throughout the state."

Vacant for some 30 years, the 134-year-old building at 19 Market St. was formerly known as the Cooke Administration Building. It once housed the offices of Cooke, Danforth & Co. Locomotive Works, and later serviced as the offices for the company that made pattern cards for the Jacquard looms that were once used for weaving textiles.

According to Richard De Petro of Silk Mills Ventures, the Cooke Mill Condominium project will turn the existing building into five residential units. A four-story addition will contain the other 15 units. De Petro is partners with Marshall Sigman and Michael Antuono in the project.

The project also marks the first new residential development in the historic district of this old industrial city. "Additional housing at a reasonable cost has been a major concern of our residents," says Paterson Mayor Jose Torres. "I have been committed to building new housing throughout the city. This project will be an asset in this endeavor."