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The $4 Million Sale To Town’s Housing Development Fund Company is First Step Toward Affordable Housing On Former Nanuet Site
The Town of Clarkstown passed a resolution last month to sell the bulk of the property formerly owned by the Grace Baptist Church in Nanuet, which Clarkstown acquired in 2020 for $4.5 million, to the Clarkstown Housing Development Fund Company, a 501(c)4 non-profit, whose board is made up of current and former members of the Clarkstown Town Board, including Town Supervisor George Hoehmann.
The parcels being sold are located at 22-26 Demarest Avenue and 9 Highview Avenue. The town is retaining about three quarters of an acre for parking and green space, while selling 1.61 acres of the 2.34-acres property. The price for the four tax lots is $4 million.
A second resolution recognized that development of affordable housing on the site may take two years, and the town also entered into an agreement with the Clarkstown Housing Development Fund Company (CHDFC) to maintain and secure the property for $100,000 per year, paid by the CHDFC.
The properties are located adjacent to Nanuet’s Transit Oriented Development and near the Nanuet Town Center (formerly the Shops At Nanuet).
In 2020, a Bond Anticipation Note (BAN) in the amount of $4,600,000 was issued for the purchase of Grace Baptist Church. In years 2022 through 2024, the BAN was paid down in the amount of $125,000, $125,000 and $130,000 respectively. The BAN was renewed in 2024 in the amount of $4,220,000. According to Hoehmann, a portion of the proceeds from the sale will be used to pay down the debt.
The Clarkstown Housing Development Fund Company, incorporated in March of 2022, is a non-profit corporation whose primary purpose “is the development and maintenance of housing projects for persons of low income in the town of Clarkstown,” according to its Form 990 filed with the IRS.
The recently passed resolutions were not specific about the intended use of the property in the future but the mandate of the CHDFC calls for the development of affordable housing. The sale of town-owned property is subject to a permissive referendum, meaning residents can petition the town board to hold a public vote on the sale.
“There is no final plan for the property,” said Hoehmann. “There is no developer yet. We’re working through the process with the local neighbors. We simply transferred a portion of the land because it made the most sense.”
Since the acquisition of the property in 2020, town officials have met with several developers who have pitched projects for the site – none of which were acceptable to the town.
The CHDFC has been primarily funded by grants received from Clarkstown Middlewood Housing Development Fund Company (CMHDFC), a 501(c)3 organization, whose Board of Directors is also made up of Hoehmann and members of the town council. The CMHDFC owns a 107-unit, Section 8, apartment building in Nanuet. Section 8, officially the Housing Choice Voucher Program, is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program that helps low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled afford safe housing in the private market by providing rental subsidies directly to landlords.
In 2022, Middlewood granted $4,761,452 to the CHDFC, and in 2023, Middlewood granted $5,909,228 to CHDFC. According to IRS filings the two organization are “related” entities. Related entities are generally non-profits controlled by the same or similar boards and who serve similar purposes.
According to IRS filings, the CHDFC has about $11 million dollars in cash and investments and no other assets.
In 2024, the Town declared the site as “surplus” and sought proposals via a Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) for the redevelopment of the Grace Baptist Church property into a transit-oriented development project. The town, at that time, was looking for a qualified developer “for a mixed-use development that could include up to 500 housing units, public amenities, and community spaces.” The project was part of a plan to create a walkable neighborhood near the Nanuet Train Station that would link Nanuet’s downtown commercial district with the Shops at Nanuet regional shopping center, now known as Nanuet Town Center.
History Of The Grace Baptist Church Controversy
The town’s acquisition of the Grace Baptist Church property was controversial.
In Oct. 2018, Ateres Bais Yaakov Academy of Rockland had contracted with Grace Baptist Church to acquire the property for $4.3 million and planned to close two months later. After Grace Baptist Church terminated its contract with Ateres, the Town of Clarkstown’s Board authorized the town to purchase the property for $4.5 million for “general municipal purposes” in November of 2019. The transaction closed in early 2020.
A $10 million lawsuit filed by the yeshiva accused Supervisor George Hoehmann, Clarkstown, and CUPON of a concerted effort to undermine its ability to close the then-pending contract to acquire Grace Baptist Church – claiming defendants had worked together to derail the yeshiva’s financing, building permit, zoning application, and contract with the church. Ateres intended to acquire the Grace Baptist Church site for use as a girls’ yeshiva.
Ultimately, the town brokered a legal settlement with the yeshiva. Clarkstown paid Ateres Bais Yaakov Academy of Rockland $200,000 plus town officials were required to undergo religious liberty land use training. The town also agreed to pay Ateres Bais Yaakov Academy of Rockland $25,000 for attorney’s fees for claims the town violated FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) by improperly withholding documents sought by the yeshiva.
Rockland Country Day School
Clarkstown purchased the Rockland Country Day School 22-acre campus at 32-34 Kings Highway in Congers in 2018 for $4.4 million. For the first two years after the purchase, the nonprofit school, which was tax exempt, was paying a fee to the town to lease back the land it sold. Ultimately the school shuttered in 2019, leaving the town to scramble for new tenants.
Now, more than six years after the school closed, the Town of Clarkstown plans to develop a portion of the former Rockland Country Day School campus into a single-family housing development, while preserving the rest for designated parkland.
The town board designated 13 acres as “surplus municipal property,” a preliminary step needed to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) from developers. Town officials said they envision 15 single-family homes on lots ranging from 24,000 square feet to 33,000 square feet to preserve the “nature and character” of the neighborhood.
“We have a housing shortage,” said Hoehmann. “We’ve been at this for years. We’ve been engaging residents. This is what neighbors want.”
