Affordable Housing Comes of Age: How Georgica Green Ventures Is Going Beyond Blueprint to Building

Columbus Day, Halloween and the World Series are big dates to remember in October. But this year, October 1 may be an important date for Long Island, if you think there’s an affordable housing crisis, as many do.

Glen Cove-based Georgica Green Ventures, a developer of affordable housing, is celebrating a groundbreaking at One Carleton Green in Central Islip in the morning followed by a grand opening of the Grove Apartments in East Patchogue.

For a region where the cost of the average single-family house is nearing $900,000, amid what’s widely seen as an affordable housing crisis, these developments are proof it’s possible to build quality, affordable housing here.

One Carleton Green’s 96 units, a mix of market rate and affordable housing, in about a year and a half will welcome residents, with rents as low as $1,600. Tenants already moved into the Patchogue development, as affordable housing goes from blueprint to buildings.

“It’s like fast forwarding, from a vacant lot to a completed project,” Georgica Green Ventures CEO and Port Washington resident David Gallo said. “We had a groundbreaking at the Grove apartments when it was a sandy lot. Now here we are at the completion of it.”

While many worry and wonder how to build affordable housing for workers, across the New York Metro area, Gallo and Georgica are doing just that in locations such as Freeport, Manhasset Westbury, Roslyn Heights, Glen Cove and across Long Island’s East End as well as Coney Island and Westchester.

“They’re both apartments and revitalizations,” Gallo said. “They’re both serving different affordability levels and near transit. They’re positive investments in the community that had been vacant sites.”

Gallo and Georgica for more than a decade have been creating safe, quality, affordable homes for residents who meet income qualifications, veterans, seniors, domestic violence survivors, individuals with disabilities, and workforce families.

“Solving New York’s housing crisis comes down to one simple strategy,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said recently. “Building housing.”

Georgica Green Ventures, founded in 2012, has developed over 2,000 affordable units. They aren’t affordable housing advocates, but developers working with government to get it done.

“There’s going to be a child doing homework, sitting at their countertop,” Gallo said of the Central Islip groundbreaking. “There will be a retired senior, having a cup of coffee on their patio, as a result of this housing. All the levels of government work together to make it all happen.”

AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS

It’s hardly news that Long Island faces an affordable housing crisis. While there are strict definitions for affordable housing tax credits, the term, Gallo said, “means something different to everybody.” Ask 10 people and you’ll get 10 different answers.

“We’re talking about people who make our communities,” he said of what’s sometimes called workforce housing. “It’s important to provide housing for those individuals: The nurses, teachers, people working at your local coffee shop. It’s everybody. It gives them an opportunity to live and work.”

This also includes the very young and old who want to stay, possibly downsizing.  “It’s that elderly parent or grandparent who doesn’t want to live in a house anymore, but can live in an apartment community,” said Gallo.

He has been honored by Vision Long Island, the National Development Corporation, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County and New York State Association of Affordable Housing. But winning over communities is a big part of the work.

“We work really hard on designing it so it fits contextually within the community,” said Gallo, who also serves on groups such as the Hofstra Advisory Board and treasurer for the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless.” I want people to drive by 100 times and say I didn’t see that. It fits in so much like it’s always been there.”

They design, build and then manage (all three) structures designed to provide solutions, not create new problems.

“We try very hard to design and manage these communities in ways everybody can be proud of,” he said.

After years when opposition was the story, communities are supporting “affordable housing,” often on blighted lots. A pleasant piece of proof popped up recently. Gallo was on vacation August 27 when his phone began ringing off the hook. Newsday ran a picture of the Patchogue development on its cover for an affordable housing article.

“Newsday said Georgica Green gets it right,” Gallo said. “That was really cool.”

DISCOVERING AFFORDABLE HOUSING

David Gallo graduated from Fordham, hoping to be a real estate developer, but with no specific interest in affordable housing. He was hired by Whitney Capital, which built affordable housing nationwide in states such as Missouri, Tennessee, Colorado, Texas and New York.

They tapped into the tax reform act of 1986, which created affordable housing tax credits nationwide.

“I enjoyed it, but there was a defining moment for me,” he said. “When we started working on a project in Great Neck, I ran into someone I went to high school with. I realized how different life was for him and me.”

Gallo said his friend lived in unpleasant conditions, making affordable housing truly hit home. “At that chance meeting, I saw this person I hadn’t seen in six or seven years,” Gallo said. “Right here, in the town I was growing up in, I saw the problem first hand. I started to think about affordable housing differently.”

Building affordable housing went from a largely abstract business model to a mission to build on Long Island.

“I wanted to build housing that the residents who lived there could be proud of, neighbors could be proud of, that benefited everybody,” Gallo said. “At that point, affordable housing became very serious.”

BUILDING THE BUSINESS

After graduating from Fordham, Gallo obtained an MS with honors from New York University and graduated from Harvard University Graduate School of Design’s Advanced Management and Development Program in Real Estate.

But he made his mark when he partnered with Grassi Advisory Group CEO Louis Grasso to launch Georgica Green Ventures, named for Georgica Beach in East Hampton

“I grew up surfing there and on other beaches,” he said. “I enjoyed my time there. You start a company. You want there to be something positive to think about.

He and partners started Georgica with a mission, beyond economics. He saw a problem and wanted to solve it.

“My goal when we started the company was, can we successfully build workforce housing on Long Island in a positive way that can be repeated?” Gallo said.

They soon began to develop affordable housing to include populations such as veterans, victims of domestic violence and people with disabilities.

“That first building showed us we could do it,” Gallo said. “We can house people in apartments and still incorporate other populations like individuals with disabilities in those same apartments.”

STARTING IN SOUTHAMPTON

Georgica built their first East End (one target community) affordable housing in Southampton, just under 30 units (all affordable) for Sandy Hollow Cove on Sandy Hollow Road (east of the Shinnecock Canal), partnering with the Southampton Housing Authority.

“The project overcame a lot of community resistance,” Gallo said. “It really was the beginning of the projects we built out East.”

The development was designed to look like a manor house and barn and not traditional apartments.

“The idea is adapting,” Gallo said. “We don’t take our prototype and drop it in. We say, ‘What makes sense here? How do we create something appropriate for this community?’”

The Southampton development, he said, showed they could develop East End affordable housing.

“That project was important, so people got familiar and comfortable and started to understand what this is,” he said. “I often say, ‘This isn’t your grandfather’s affordable housing. We’re doing housing for everyone in the community in a range of incomes. We let it fit in with the community.”

Gallo said Georgica developments fit in with the community, rather than standing out as lesser quality housing.

“They drive by this 100% affordable housing community,” he said of people in the area. “We work hard on the upkeep. If anything, every time I drive around it, I’m proud of the way Sandy Hollow Cove looks. It’s very beautiful there.”

SOUTHAMPTON SEQUEL

They then built Speonk Commons, a transit-oriented, 100% affordable, 38-unit development near the Speonk train station, near Remsenburg.

“We worked really hard with the neighbors,” Gallo said. “Initially, there was some opposition. But we worked with the community, and by the end, it was fully supported.”

They partnered with Southampton to make the project happen, not only winning approvals, but financial support.

“We work with every level of government, a state agency, the local municipality, county,” Gallo said.

By building on a site that was an eyesore, they showed that they could make the community much better. “It took a blighted vacant site next to the train station,” Gallo said. “And we built a beautiful, transit-oriented development with retail.”

The development includes a coffee shop, bringing retail and residents. “There is a nice place with coffee and chocolate from around the world,” Gallo said. “We activated and created strong retail and beautiful, affordable apartments.”

Gallo shows people early projects, to reassure them about new ones. “We can point to projects like Sandy and Speonk,” Gallo said. “When I’m meeting with a community, I can say, ‘If you have a couple of hours, come walk with me at Sandy Hollow.’

Community members and elected officials have gone to their developments, meeting residents.

“I love taking people there,” Gallo said of developments such as Sandy Hollow. “I’ve had other developers ask if they can bring elected officials and the community to see what this affordable housing looks like.”

EAST HAMPTON EXPANSION

While the Hamptons and East End may be famous for mansions, Georgica helped build more affordable housing in East Hampton as well. They partnered with the East Hampton Housing Authority on two developments.

They first built and opened Gansett Meadow, 38 garden-style apartments on Montauk Highway near the Amagansett (hence Gansett) train station.

They then built and opened The Green at Gardiner’s Point, 50 apartments high on a hill with a beautiful playground.

“We worked really hard with the Town of East Hampton,” Gallo said of partnerships with the government. “All of this comes together when we’re working together.”

Gansett Meadow, Gallo said, houses many people who work in East Hampton, including those who otherwise would be part of the trade parade.

“Almost everyone who moved in there lived or worked in the town,” Gallo said. “You have to ask yourself, what conditions were they living in? Some were in the trade parade.”

PROOF IN PATCHOGUE

The Patchogue development, opening October 1, made news in Newsday as a poster project for an article about affordable housing. A deeper look, however, shows various aspects that stand out.

The development includes 50 apartments, a mix of affordable and market rate, with a portion set aside for domestic violence survivors.

“We took a blighted site,” Gallo said. “An industrial building was on a portion of the site.”

The Grove includes amenities such as pocket park and space leased to a coffee shop on the ground floor along with solar panels, providing cheaper energy. “The green part of the company, Georgica Green, is making everything as sustainable as possible,” Gallo added.

He doesn’t just look at retail and housing as a place to live and shop. Georgica is, really, about bringing locations to life.

“We’re activating a site that was laying fallow. Now there are beautiful apartments, great retail,” Gallo said. “Patchogue is a great story of revitalization and multi-family housing. This extended it.”

BUILDING A BIGGER DOWNTOWN

The Groves is a story about developing downtowns as well as housing. It was built on East Main Street, essentially extending Patchogue’s downtown.

The Village of Patchogue extended a sewer line, effectively expanding its downtown, bringing in more residents and retail.

“On Long Island and anywhere we’re constrained by infrastructure like water and sewer,” Gallo said. “To make these developments happen, we need investments in water and sewer.”

The development transformed the site, using a building to make a blighted property more beautiful.

“It’s extending the good work Patchogue had done with restaurants, shops and housing,” Gallo said. “It’s nice when we can through the process and see it. There was a lot of work done. Sewer lines don’t just manifest into the ground.”

Georgica has been growing affordable housing options on Long Island, but also its own business.

“Now we’re over 50 people through development, construction and property management,” Gallo said. “We have a team that cares so deeply about doing what we do. They work late, come in on weekends. They love and are passionate about delivering affordable housing.”

UP WITH DOWNTOWN

While the Patchogue development extended that downtown, Georgica often seeks to revitalize downtowns as part of its mission and mandate. Their Riverhead project, 116 units and a mix of rent tiers, helped bring Riverhead back, like a match lighting a flame that continues to burn.

“It was one of the first apartment buildings in downtown Riverhead,” Gallo said. “We brought in a mix of affordability and quality retail.”

The development also includes a brewery, Pilates, and ice cream parlor, about a block from the Long Island Aquarium, so close that you can hear the seals from residents’ patios.

“We wanted to activate not just Main Street,” Gallo said “We put retail on Main Street and retail on the other side of the building that overlooks the river.”

Georgica often is an early adopter, developing a site, showing what can be done before others follow. Heatherwood next door is building about 180 apartments as Riverhead becomes revitalized.

“We worked hard at creating these spaces so that these downtowns can become fully revitalized with housing and retail,” Gallo said. “It’s happening.”