Housing Authority Plans To Build Up To 250 Affordable Units In Hell's Kitchen

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is planning to build a tower with up to 250 affordable apartment units on a parking lot next to the Harborview Terrace public housing development in Hell's Kitchen.

NYCHA has considered the West 55th Street site for development since the 2005 rezoning of Hudson Yards. In 2008 a deal to develop the site fell through when neighborhood residents and elected officials rallied against Atlantic Development, which was chosen to build two structures with 342 apartments on the site, according to a 2008 New York Times article. In the Atlantic Development buildings 112 apartments would be rented at market rate and 220 would be reserved for families earning between $32,300 and $126,700, according to the Times article.

Eight years later NYCHA is pushing forward to build on the site again, this time promising that 100 percent of the units built on the land will be offered at below-market rates, a NYCHA spokesperson told Patch. In addition to offering the building's 200 to 250 apartments at below-market rates, NYCHA is pushing to secure the deepest levels of affordability, the spokesperson said.

“The city is expanding affordable housing options for New Yorkers. Last month, NYCHA launched resident engagement for four new affordable housing sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx that will add hundreds of new homes to the affordable housing stock at a time when the city is facing an affordable housing crisis," a NYCHA spokesperson told Patch.

NYCHA will begin hosting a series of meetings and "visioning workshops" with area residents and stakeholders. During the meetings residents will be able to express their opinions on the project which will help the city craft a Request for Expression of Interest from private developers. The selected developer will build and operate the new housing and will be given a 99-year ground lease to the property. During the lease NYCHA will retain ownership of the land, a NYCHA spokesperson told Patch.

Photo by Jim.henderson via Wikimedia Commons