Work Begins on $37M Affordable Project in Edison

EDISON, NJ—Thanks to about $10 million in federal post Hurricane Sandy aid as well as federal construction financing assistance, the $37-million Kilmer Homes affordable housing project has broken ground.

The project, a partnership between The Alpert Group, LLC, Edison Affordable Housing, Inc., Monarch Housing Associates, Inc., and Triple C Housing, will be located at the corner of Truman Road and Road 2 in Edison. The development will be near the Catholic Charities Ozanam Shelter and the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School's Piscataway campus.

New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, an affiliate of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, staged a groundbreaking of the 120-unit Kilmer Homes development earlier this week. Upon completion, the units will be available to those earning less than 60% of the area median income and 30 units will be set aside for homeless individuals assisted by project-based section 8 housing vouchers.

The HMFA awarded each phase of the two-phased project approximately $5 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds for a grand total of approximately $10 million through the Fund for Restoration of Multifamily Housing, and the Sandy Special Needs Housing Fund. Through a competitive process, both phases of the project were awarded the 9% federal low-income housing tax credits that will generate approximately $8.8 million in private equity, for a grand total of approximately $17.7 million. The agency also provided both phases approximately $7.2 million in construction and permanent financing, for a grand total of approximately $14.4 million.

"Kilmer Homes will empower working families, the homeless, as well as Sandy-impacted households in the Edison area, including Woodbridge, Sayreville, and South River, to live in safe, decent, and permanent housing,” says DCA Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III, who also serves as chairman of the HMFA. 

“We are so pleased to use the state's Sandy recovery funds to finance both phases of Kilmer Homes, which truly represent HMFA's core mission to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing in New Jersey,” says HMFA Executive Director Anthony L. Marchetta. “This project will transform a vacant military base into a vibrant housing community that better meets the needs of Edison, while creating jobs, enhancing the town, and attracting further economic development to the area.”