Sun, Moon, Maybe Wind Technology for Possible Port Jervis Apartments
Tatyana and Brett Gartner have a plan for green affordable housing on Jersey Ave.
When Brett and Tatyana Gartner first saw Port Jervis, more than a decade ago, it resembled pre-gentrification Brooklyn, Brett said.
“We thought Port Jervis had potential like Brooklyn before the boom,” he said. “We drove down Front St. and looked at all the beautiful buildings. Why were they empty? Now they’re occupied. We saw the potential start being realized. We played a small part and hope to continue.”
After they bought Save-A-Lot, he said, “We spent hundreds of thousands on the property. We demolished areas of the buildings dating back to the A&P.”
Save-A-Lot gave way to Family Dollar, but in land to the west of the store , where Neversink Lumber now stores lumber, the Gartners saw potential for an apartment building offering 26 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
“We’ve considered the project for a long time, but market conditions didn’t allow it,” said Brett. “It’s been a challenge to make economically viable building affordable housing at affordable rates. The grant could make it viable.”
The Gartners have submitted a proposal for funding from the $10 Million New York State Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant awarded to Port Jervis this year, asking for $3,750,000 and offering $2 Million in matching funds. Their plan involves a “where the train meets the mountains” tunnel theme that would appear in the architectural design, for instance in archway entrances and common areas, Brett said. The building would also include a variety of green features.
Tatyana Gartner, who has an interior design degree from Parsons School of Design, does architectural design for multi-family buildings, Brett said. Having grown up in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan, he was volunteering with the Peace Corps when he met her in Ukraine, her native country, where she was studying finance in college. She came to the U.S. with him in 2002, and they have property in New York City and other places in the region.
She has sketched the proposed Port Jervis building, on which a rooftop garden is visible as well as planters under windows for a “vertical garden,” which will have a watering system, Brett said.
“On the roof and vertical garden, the vision is to use indigenous varieties of plants,” said Tatyana. “Also, a portion of the roof would be dedicated to the communal tenant gardening.”
“It will be an opportunity for rainwater recapture,” Brett added.
The plan includes heat pump heating and cooling and possibly passive ventilation, which uses pressure differences instead of mechanical systems, if viable. They also plan to use solar panels over some parking spaces.
“Parking will be on all four sides of the building, and solar panels will be used over three sides,” Brett said. “One Port Jervis problem is parking. We can provide 30 residential spaces and 90 retail spaces,” plus bike racks, he noted.
Their plan also includes “sun tunnels.”
“They’re like skylights, but using prisms, so the light doesn’t necessarily come from above the space being lit. The prism channels sunlight into another room,” Brett said.
He also suggested that moonlight might be similarly channeled to rooms for illumination at night.
“We are still exploring all the ideas and nothing is determined yet,” said Tatyana. “Sun tunnels are a simple, sustainable way of bringing natural light into dark areas like hallways, stairwells and bathrooms, and we hope to use them. Potentially they can provide a small amount of illumination at night as well - perhaps just enough to see - but that is not their primary purpose.”
“The Jersey Avenue section of Port Jervis tends to be forgotten,” said Brett. But we all know that Port Jervis needs affordable housing to reach its full potential.”
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