Multimillion-dollar renovation project planned for Pines of Perinton

PERINTON, N.Y. – About a year after fire ravaged parts of the Pines of Perinton apartment complex, a multimillion-dollar renovation project has community members excited about what’s coming next.

It’s clear that many who have called Pines of Perinton home for years are anxiously awaiting the property’s makeover that many say is long overdue. For this close-knit community, change has been a long time coming.

“Part of it is like falling down, like it’s beginning to fall to pieces,” resident Carolyn DeLeon said. “And I just worry about the elderly people. And I’m 74 years old but there’s a lady here that’s like 89 years old and stuff like that. And I don’t want nothing to happen to them.”

Deleon says she has only lived at Pines of Perinton for a little over a year and plans on staying, especially knowing that renovations are already on the way, some Deleon has already seen in her own apartment.

“They put in a new refrigerator, a new stove,” DeLeon said. “It wasn’t there when I first moved here but they upgraded everything. But they told me they are going to make it even better. So I’m just waiting on that.”

Ed Casaffo is a consultant with Winn Companies and says that this $136 million renovation on this affordable housing community has been many years in the making.

“We had planned when we purchased this property in 2019, we saw the need for top-to-bottom rehabilitation,” Casaffo said. “It had not been maintained up to the standards that you would expect that we would expect or that the residents needed. Unfortunately, the pandemic delayed this progress.”

This is a slowdown that Perinton Supervisor Ciaran Hanna says is finally coming to an end, emphasizing the importance of providing affordable housing to members of the community.

“They are our neighbors now. It’s important that we are able to keep them here and do something that will improve their lives,” Hanna said.

After years of calling Pines of Perinton, Felix Aleda said the complex recently notified residents of the changes that were coming.

“They sent us letters explaining all of that, what they are going to do, all the new ideas,” Aleda said.

Among the ones Aldea is looking forward to are not only changes to his home, but more safe places for the neighborhood kids to play.

“The kids need a place to play instead of riding their bikes around here,” Aleda said. “A better playground for them, that would be good.”