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Market-Rate Apartments Coming To NYCHA Complexes In Boerum Hill & The UES
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 10, 2015
Modified Sep 10, 2015
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 10, 2015
Modified Sep 10, 2015
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Two months ago the de Blasio administration invited private developers to build around 450 rent-stabilized apartments in existing public housing developments. Now the free market wants its taste: the city is announcing more private development in NYCHA buildings, this time around 1,000 apartments in Boerum Hill and the Upper East Side, half of which will be market-rate.
The Daily News reports that the administration will offer to sell space (or lease it for 99 years) to private developers on top of "underutilized" parking lots in Wyckoff Gardens and on a playground at the Holmes Towers (the playground will be replaced, the officials say).
Late last year, NYCHA, which is operating on a $77 million budget deficit, also sold a stake of its apartments in the East Village, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, for $350 million in revenue and renovations. NYCHA needs $18 billion to repair its decrepit housing stock. Tearing down eight miles of unnecessary sidewalk sheds is seen as a sign of real progress.
It's unclear if the "affordable" apartments in the program will be rent-stabilized or based on an AMI calculation. We've asked the Mayor's Office to elaborate.
To review: public, affordable housing is overcrowded and bankrupt, so we need private developers to exploit public land to keep it solvent. And Barry Diller can afford to drop $100 million on a floating park near the High Line.
Tagged
affordable housing
if private capital has the money to invest in public land the government can just *take* it in the form of a tax but then how would the nice people turn a profit?
nycha
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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