The plan for this space was originally meant to be an affordable housing project. Now, that seems to be up for debate.
Last summer, the New York City Housing Authority released a request for proposals to bring upwards of 850 new apartments to over four public housing sites across the city. The site at the Harborview Terrace complex in Hell’s Kitchen was originally set to bring a 200-250 units of affordable projects to the parking lot space at the complex.
However, according to the Daily News, that plan has been swapped for what looks like the addition of market-rate apartments. In a private meeting, Housing Authority officials along with representatives from the de Blasio administration discussed new possibilities for the site, which includes the creation of buildings consisting of 70 percent market-rate units.
If this new proposal is accepted, 226 affordable apartments will be located on site, in addition to 527 market-rate apartments. This plan would potentially bring a building anywhere between 30 and 50 stories high to the location at West 54th and 56th Streets between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues.
The project has been in the works for over a decade and originally formed part of the Hudson Yards rezoning effort, but only last summer were plans revived. While Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer told the Daily News that she was surprised to hear about the market-rate component of the development, a mayoral spokesperson expressed disappointment about the news leaking out, and said the plans were still in the discussion stage.
In their presentation, the NYCHA and the mayor’s office defended that a market-rate project would partly help address NYCHA’s $32 billion need for repairs. It is unclear now how and if the project will move forward.
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