NYCHA parking lot in Hell’s Kitchen could get hundreds of luxury apartments

Last summer, the New York City Housing Authority released a request for proposals (RPF) to bring up to 850 apartments to be spread out over four public housing sites in the city. One of those sites was the Harborview Terrace complex in Hell’s Kitchen, located between West 54th and 56th Streets between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. At that time, the city said it was looking to bring a 200 to 250-unit fully affordable project to an underutilized parking spot at the complex.

Now, the New York Daily News has learned that a large number of the apartments in this new building might not actually be affordable. In a private meeting, NYCHA officials, along with representatives from the de Blasio administration, and local elected officials discussed new possibilities for the site, which includes the creation of 70 percent market-rate units.

Four new plans were discussed in this meeting; now the building could stand between 30 to 50 stories tall and bring up to 753 apartments to the neighborhood, according to the Daily News. One of the plans would keep 226 affordable apartments at the site, but would also bring 527 market-rate apartments with it.

The project has been in the works for over a decade and was originally promised as part of the Hudson Yards rezoning effort. It was not until last summer that development plans were revived. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer told the Daily News that she was surprised to hear about the market-rate component of the development. Brewer and other elected officials present at the meeting vehemently opposed any market-rate component to the development, according to the Daily News.

A mayoral spokesperson expressed disappointment to the Daily News about the news leaking out, and said the plans were still in the discussion stage. As part of the presentation, folks from NYCHA and the mayor’s office stressed that a market-rate project would partly help address NYCHA’s $32 billion need for repairs, but local representatives held firm to the promise of affordable housing. It now remains to be seen how this project will actually move forward.

• De Blasio plan for 75% luxury apartment tower on public land where 100% affordable units were on tap [NYDN]
• Long-Delayed Affordable Housing Heading to Harborview Terrace, City Says [DNAinfo]
• NYCHA seeks developers to build hundreds of new affordable apartments [Curbed]