Andrew Regenstreich of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services | Gateway Project in Orange | The Role of Public Incentives
Courtesy of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services
The Role of Public Incentives
In today’s episode, I speak with Andrew Regenstreich, the Director of Real Estate and Economic Development at Housing and Neighborhood Development Services (HANDS). HANDS, Inc. is a developer of affordable housing in New Jersey. They engage stakeholders in community organizations, cultural spaces, and commercial properties to help revitalize spaces. Recently, they have planned the “Gateway Project” at 523 Freeman Street, a new construction project for mixed-use housing in Orange, New Jersey.
As an undeveloped lot at the corner of Scotland Road, the “Gateway Project” will provide opportunities for entrepreneurs, open space for public gatherings, showcasing local artists, and moderate-income housing. This project is planned to be a four-story development with nine residential units. It will include 1,479 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, and provide residents with access to the commercial space near the Valley Arts District. The project has received incredible help from the City of Orange along with support from New Jersey Community Capital, DCA, and a partnership with NJ Transit.
Join us on today’s episode as we discuss the role of affordable housing in shaping a longer-term and comprehensive vision for the future, how COVID-19 has been impacting developments for low-income households, and Andrew’s personal experience working at HANDS, Inc. More broadly, we discuss the role that public incentives play in housing production today.
“So the name of the game is to leave the house, the lot, the block, the neighborhood better than when you found it. And affordability is an extremely important part of that. People need to be able to afford what you’re producing. Hands is a very interesting place. It started in 1986, started very small with the desire to do what I just mentioned. How do we repair this one property, how do we repair the property next door? How do we come up with a strategy for this block? That’s in the DNA, but as you start really approaching one problem, you start seeing what a multi-layered dynamic exists that’s inhibiting your ability to really effectuate change.”
Courtesy of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services
About Andrew Regenstreich
Andrew Regenstreich is the Director of Real Estate and Economic Development at Housing and Neighborhood Development Services (HANDS). HANDS, Inc. is a developer of affordable housing in New Jersey. They engage stakeholders in community organizations, cultural spaces, and commercial properties to help revitalize spaces. Previously, Andrew worked at New Jersey Community Capital as the Assistant Director in Real Estate. He is a graduate of NYU and Northeastern. As a student at NYU, he had the opportunity to work at the Massachusetts legislature, the US Senate and the US State Department.
Episode Timestamps
2:25 – You began your interest in public policy through internship experiences at various levels of the U.S. government when you were at Northeastern. What did you learn through those experiences and how did they shape your career in economic development?
7:06 – One of your previous experiences and where you effectively began my career in economic development was at New Jersey Community Capital. Could you explain what they do and then what your role there was?
12:18 – What do terms like ‘affordable housing’ and ‘wealth generation and creation’ mean? And why do you think they’re important?
16:15 – Let's talk about Orange, New Jersey and the challenges of developing there.
19:01 – What is the 523 Freeman Street site like?
20:42 – We understand that affordable housing often has special design and construction requirements. Tell us about the team that you put together to address some of those issues and then create the overall product that you're planning on building.
25:14 – Walk us through what our listeners would see when they visit the building.
30:25 – Is affordable housing really necessary in America? Why?
37:58 – Help our listeners understand what this black hole of incentives for affordable housing is. Is there a framework for people to understand what these incentives are?
45:35 – How do the incentives impact critical design and construction timelines? Help us understand where this process fits into your design and construction schedule.
Connect with Andrew Regenstreich:
LinkedIn (Andrew Regenstreich)
LinkedIn (Housing and Neighborhood Development Services)
Housing and Neighborhood Development Services
Courtesy of Housing and Neighborhood Development Services
About your host:
Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of Commonplace, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
His work has been covered by Technology Review, The Real Deal, Commercial Observer, and Propmodo. He’s also a frequent speaker on the future of buildings and cities on popular industry podcasts and at conferences, including this past year at the Commercial Observer National DEI Conference, Yale AREA Conference, Columbia Real Estate Symposium, Open Data Week NYC and Austin Design Week.
About Commonplace
Commonplace is a founding sponsor of American Building. It is a 100% minority-owned, real estate technology company founded in 2020 to make financing social impact development projects across the US easier. It is funded by venture capital investors Hometeam Ventures, Park West Asset Management, New York Ventures and Shadow Ventures.
About Michael Graves
The world-famous design firm Michael Graves is also a founding sponsor of American Building. Its namesake, the iconoclastic designer Michael Graves, FAIA was a fierce advocate for people-centric design. His work defines a generation of American architecture and includes the Portland Building, the Humana Building and the Denver Public Library. The 1st season of American Building was filmed live at The Warehouse, his historic home in Princeton, New Jersey:
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