Van Drew pledges support for Marina Bay Towers
NORTH WILDWOOD -- Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew is giving his full support to the residents of Marina Bay Towers, a senior citizen affordable housing building here, in their effort to obtain New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) action to stave off potential eviction from their apartments.
“I am pleased the residents have persuaded the HMFA to sit down with them, their attorney and other parties in this situation, including several legal experts retained by the building developer, to resolve this matter as soon as possible,” said Van Drew, who visited the residents earlier in November. “I came away persuaded that we need to find a path to action that will assure these senior citizens that they will be able to stay in their apartments.
“This situation arises from a complicated series of business and legal decisions and transactions but it is really a simple human situation that comes down to this: These senior citizens have earned the right to be in their homes without fear that they may one day face eviction. I will be with them all the way to the day that fear is removed.”
Marina Bay Towers Tenant Association President Joseph Bakanowsky, a retired U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor and retired casino industry worker, said, “We appreciate the support of Assemblyman Van Drew. We need the support of all of our state and federal legislators to get this situation resolved so we can have peace of mind in our homes.”
Marina Bay Towers is a 143-unit affordable senior citizen bayside, waterfront building with 200 residents who must be at least 62 years of age to be tenants. There is a waiting list of 650 senior citizens for units in the building. Residents have annual incomes between $15,000 a year and $21,000 a year.
Originally financed with $14 million in HMFA low income housing tax credits – the HMFA is New Jersey program administrator for the federal Internal Revenue Service, which allocates the credits among the 50 states each year – the building had to be totally rehabilitated before occupancy because of unforeseen problems.
Problems included damage from a major northeastern storm in 1998, Hurricane Floyd in 1999, faulty construction of modular units, and delay caused by the damage and by a three-year environmental permitting process.
The rehabilitation added $11 million to the cost. The developer, Rubicon Companies of West Orange, has a new financing plan combining additional housing tax credits and tax-exempt bond financing that has the approval of the IRS.
But, despite the fact that the plan obtained IRS approval in 2003, the HMFA called in an outside law firm in 2005 that gave advice counter to the approval and to advice given by several leading national experts retained by Rubicon –- including the current chief counsel of the IRS, who Rubicon had engaged before he took on his public position.
Van Drew said, “The residents went to the HMFA last week and got a pledge from the agency that it will hold the meeting. I urge the HMFA to keep an open mind and to do everything in its power to resolve this matter in a timely fashion and in a manner that serves the interests of these senior citizens.”
Noting he will pay close attention to the results of the meeting, the assemblyman said, “The right thing to do is for that meeting to find a path that will satisfy the authority and at the same time remove the threats of foreclosure and potential eviction hanging over the building and the residents, who have my full support.”
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