Ten Eyck Street house plan applauded 
By: Nancy Madsen, Times Staff Writer | October 16, 2009
'It's A Nice Design': Neighbors of Watertown to build a prefabricated home that fits with area
Neighbors of Watertown Inc. plans to build a two-story, three-bedroom house at 122 Ten Eyck St.
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| The vacant lot at 122 Ten Eyck St. in Watertown soon will be graced by the two-story home shown in this rendering. The home is being built by Neighbors of Watertown, the Watertown Local Development Corp. and the Develop-ment Authority of the North Country. |
The photographic renderings of the house were discussed Thursday morning at the board meeting of the Watertown Local Development Corp.
The 1,600-square-foot house would be on a lot that has 50 feet of road frontage but tapers to 44 feet in the back.
"I think it's a nice design, given the constraints," Neighbors Executive Director Gary C. Beasley said. "It can be a model for other neighborhoods."
Local Development Corp. board members concurred.
"I agree it's a good model for similar lots," Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham said.
A similar proposal for a house on the lot in 2007 met stiff opposition from some residents on the street amid fears the house would not fit into the character of the neighborhood. Neighbors of Watertown then proposed a two-story, 1,200-square-foot house. Many nearby houses are turn-of-the-20th-century Victorian.
On the "in-fill" housing project, Neighbors acts as general contractor. Watertown Local Development Corp., also known as Watertown Trust, acts as a lender and the Development Authority of the North Country acts as the owner.
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| The vacant lot at 122 Ten Eyck St., above, soon will look like the rendering above, with the addition of a two-story, three-bedroom 1,600-square-foot house being constructed by Neighbors of Watertown. |
The two agencies will partner to cover the construction financing for Neighbors, which is firming up a budget for the project.
"We want to keep the cost at $170,000 or less," Mr. Beasley said.
Neighbors would use a ready-to-assemble house from Barden Homes. That makes the house easier and faster to put up, Mr. Beasley said, with less waste. The house would be Energy Star-certified and use some recycled materials.
Neighbors made slight alterations to the basic plans — detaching the garage, adding shutters and a porch and widening the house
2 feet to give more space in the bedrooms. The final plan for the house may change in terms of color and which side of the house the garage goes on.
In other Trust business, the board agreed to have CCI Building Services Inc., a Lundy Group company, conduct an inspection of the Current Applications building in the City Center Industrial Park. CCI Building Services would correct any structural issues it found at a discounted rate. The one-year contract is for $1,095.
The board also agreed to forward Public Square Developers LP, project manager for the Franklin Building, $400,000 from its line of credit with HSBC Bank as a bridge loan until the building receives additional funding from the government.