Affordable Housing Developer Proposes New Units For Rye

– By Bill Lawyer –

Port Chester native Louis Larizza could rightfully be dubbed the “White Knight” of affordable housing in Westchester. Or perhaps the George Bailey (“It’s A Wonderful Life”). Here in Rye, he has already built what county housing officials have called “top quality” affordable three-bedroom homes for nine families on Cottage Street.

Now he is proposing to build twenty-two 800 to 1,200 square foot condominium units designed for seniors, just up the street on Edgar Place. Eleven of the units would be full market-priced and eleven would be subsidized for seniors with moderate income. “If I can, they’ll all be subsidized,” said Larizza. “It all depends on how much funding is available. My goal is to make all the units affordable.”

Many Rye residents might not be aware that Cottage Street, located on the north side of I-287, is in Rye. They might drive by on their way to Home Depot or Pathmark and not notice the row of attractive units halfway up the hill.

Larizza, through his “Lazz Development LLC,” started doing affordable housing projects back in 1994. While other developers shunned the bureaucracy and limited profit associated with government-supported housing, Larizza and his staff mastered all the details and intricacies, timetables and documentation.

He credits the “helping hand” he got from developer John Giorgi in the 1980s as the reason why he’s now devoting his career to affordable housing. Larizza said, “I want to give back to the community the way Mr. Giorgi helped me.”
His first affordable housing project, built in 1994, was six units on Jenna Way in Port Chester.

Over the years he’s earned an extremely favorable reputation from affordable housing advocates and the government officials who administer the public funding of his projects.

While several “Lazz Development” projects have been carried out in Port Chester and Rye Brook, he has also done work in Tuckahoe, North Salem and Ossining.
Affordable housing is made possible through county, state or federal funding. Government funding allows developers to make a reasonable return on their investment while selling units at affordable prices to qualified low- or moderate-income customers.

As the Westchester County Planning Department’s Division of Housing Director Deborah DeLong explained, “There are three ways we can lower the costs – lower the cost of purchasing the land, help pay for the infrastructure components, or help pay for the actual housing construction costs.”

She noted that her staff of two full-time and several part-time project coordinators monitors all the details of each project to make certain that all the cost estimates and project budgets are fair and reasonable – to get the biggest bang for the taxpayers’ buck.

“Lou Larizza’s projects have all been high quality and carried out very efficiently,” DeLong stressed. “We enjoy working with him and look forward to helping with the Edgar Place project, once he gets the approvals from the City of Rye.”
The guidelines and regulations for eligibility determination have been formulated by the County and State regulations. Eligibility is calculated by income level, as a percentage of the County’s median income amounts.

In recent years, the County has also instituted other eligibility requirements, such as the size of a family in relation to the size of the unit. All these aspects are managed by the countywide Housing Action Council, according to Larizza.

In addition to building affordable housing, Larizza has been involved with several non-profits that provide other support services to people of low to moderate income. These include Port Chester’s Catholic Youth Program and Carver Center.
The 22 proposed units for seniors on the .9-acre Edgar Place property all have a bedroom, living room/dining area, kitchen and bath. Some will have a den.
The major hurdle at this point is that zoning variances will be needed to accommodate the number of units and the minimum percentage that must be restricted to moderate income.

Larizza is already looking ahead to getting involved with additional moderate-income housing projects in Rye – particularly the property on the corner of Theodore Fremd Avenue and North Street. “We’re just in the ‘speculation’ stage,” he noted, “but we want to be ready if Rye gives it the go-ahead.”