The NYC Economic Development Council is proposing an 850-unit market-rate development at 150 West 100th Street, with a new Bloomingdale library on the first two floors.
Many in the neighborhood have concerns and some of us have published this letter.
To:
Community Board 7's Housing & Land Use Committee
Councilmember Shaun Abreu
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine
Manhattan Borough President-elect Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal
Assembly Member Micah C. Lasher
Economic Development Corporation
NY Public Library
Many people in the community are thrilled that there will be more affordable housing in the neighborhood with the proposal to build a new library under apartments at 150 West 100th Street. We are YIMBY - Yes to Affordable Housing in My Backyard!
The Bloomingdale project will be one step toward remedying the ongoing loss of affordable housing.
Over 345,000 units of affordable housing have been lost throughout New York City over the past two decades creating the affordable housing crisis we now confront. In this neighborhood alone:
Park West Village’s 2500 units were built to provide affordable housing. But four of its seven buildings were removed from rent stabilization to create condos, and the remaining three buildings have suffered extensive deregulation.
In former pre-1974 Mitchell-Lamas, which were 100% affordable, like those at 765 Amsterdam Avenue, 50 West 97th Street (Central Park Gardens), 120 and 160 West 97th Street and 135 West 96th Street, 95 West 95th Street, 70 West 95th Street, 50 West 93rd Street, and 70 West 93rd Street, 733 Amsterdam - as well as Park West Village - hundreds of apartments were deregulated through vacancy decontrol or combining units, when those tactics were still legal. Additional apartments have been disappearing through illegal decontrol.
In Mitchell-Lamas built after 1973, such as Glenn Gardens at 157 West 87th Street, removal from the M-L program meant virtually complete loss of affordability.
Hundreds of affordable apartments –including at Park West Village’s three rental buildings and in all the former Mitchell-Lamas–are being warehoused as landlords use their rental income to buy other buildings rather than make the basic repairs needed to put the empty rent-stabilized units back on the market.
There has been a great deal of construction - such as Columbus Square and the Extell Ariel buildings. But virtually all the new buildings (with the exception of a single affordable unit at 250 West 96th Street on Broadway) are fully market-rate.
This is a problem that the government created and that we must solve together. [Click on "read more"]
Here are some of the issues about the Bloomingdale project that concern us and the 246 people (so far) who have signed our petition (on line or on paper) :
1. How much permanent affordable housing will there be? We want and need a lot more than provided by Mandatory Inclusionary Housing.
a. Since public land is a scarce resource, any development on it should be fully affordable. It can be part of a Community Land Trust.
b. We want 100% affordability such as provided by Mitchell-Lama, senior housing, supportive housing, or a similar program. So instead of the 210 affordable apartments or so that MIH would provide for an 850-unit building, we would like to see 100%, or at least 400-600 affordable units in a 20-30 story building (the more likely outcome), including a larger tranche at 40% - 60% AMI.
An enormous advantage to Mitchell-Lama type housing - or Section 8 - is community stability. Residents whose incomes change can change how much they pay in rent. In Mitchell-Lama, those whose incomes are above the base rent pay a surcharge; when incomes drop, they can go back to the base rent. In Section 8, people pay a consistent percentage of their income. That variability ensures a stable community and stable affordability over the long term.
c. The West Side Urban Renewal Plan created much of this neighborhood with Mitchell-Lamas (both rental and co-op) for low- and middle-income people. Park West Village, which adjoins the Bloomingdale project, was entirely rent stabilized. Unfortunately, many of those buildings have been removed from Mitchell-Lama and many units in each have been removed from rent stabilization.
2. How will the building deal with the lack of parking for police vehicles that already jam much of West 100th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues?
3. Will the building be proportional to the neighborhood? The proposed 850 units come to about 45 stories. The tallest buildings in our neighborhood are the Extell Ariels facing each other on Broadway at 99th Street - at 37 and 31 stories. Even on that major boulevard they stick out like sore thumbs. The immediately neighboring buildings on 100th Street are Park West Village, coming in at 16 stories and the Frederick Douglass Houses, some of which go up to 20 stories. Indeed, the community fought hard against Extell's giant exceptions to our zoning height caps. We understand that zoning laws are now changed. But while 25 or 30 stories might make sense, a 45-story building does not. A fully-affordable building would result in more affordable apartments than a 45-story primarily market-rate building.
4. How much community space will there be? As part of upgrading the library, the developer should include a community room with a capacity of 100 or more people. At this point the community room in the former Mitchell-Lama at 50 West 97th Street may be the only one in the neighborhood and that is insufficient for many community gatherings.
It’s time to bring back real affordability to our neighborhood.
Thank you.
- Patricia Loftman, President, Park West Village Tenants’ Association
- Jessica Mates, 210 W. 103 Street
- Roschel Holland Stearns, former chair of the Community Advisory Board of 2643 Broadway, run by the Institute for Community Living and the Volunteers of America, a residence for formerly homeless individuals with serious mental health diagnoses.
- Joan Strasbaugh, Resident, Park West Village
- Sue Susman, President, Central Park Gardens Tenants' Association, 50 West 97th Street
