The historic Franklin Building in downtown Watertown, New York sat vacant for 10 years before Neighbors of Watertown, Inc., Watertown Local Development Corporation, and NDC CEF partnered to rehabilitate the c.1905 building. The vacant three-story building was turned into 16 low-income housing apartments and approximately 13,000 sq. ft. of ground floor commercial space. The $7.8 Million project used historic rehabilitation tax credits and low-income housing tax credits to help finance the project.
The residential units are located on the upper two floors. Because of the adaptive reuse of a historic building, each unit is unique in design. There are four studio apartments averaging over 500 sq. ft. per unit, six 1-BR’s averaging 688 sq. ft. per unit, and 6 2-BR’s averaging over 1100 sq. ft. per unit. All the units have combined living and dining rooms with wall-to-wall carpeting, a full bath, and a walk-in kitchen with all necessary appliances.