Development of Staten Island Farm Colony offered

EDC seeks proposals for a post-secondary school to occupy 98-acre site containing designated buildings. On February 28, 2007, the New York City Economic Development Corporation issued a request for proposals for a site formerly used as the City’s Farm Colony.

Starting in the 1850s, the City provided housing to indigent New Yorkers in exchange for their labor on the Farm Colony. The facility expanded several times, but by the 1940s its use began to decline. It remained open until 1975 when the City moved the remaining residents to the adjacent Sea View Hospital. In 1985, Landmarks designated the entire area as the Farm Colony – Seaview Hospital Historic District, including the Farm Colony’s eleven buildings.

EDC’s request separates the 98-acre parcel into three zones. Almost 25.7 acres of the site will be transferred to Parks and become public open space. The eleven buildings and their 23.4 acres are to be adaptively reused unless Landmarks agrees with the developer that rehabilitation would be infeasible. The third 16.2-acre area contains undeveloped woods, which is open for development consistent with the RFP’s use restriction.

The entire site’s zoning, R3-2 with an NA-1 Special Natural Area District overlay, allows medium-density residential, cultural, educational and institutional uses. However, EDC limits permitted uses on the site to post-secondary educational institutions and prohibits applications that seek to rezone the lot.

The final proposal must receive a certificate of appropriateness from Landmarks and approval from the Planning Commission.

EDC set an April 27, 2007 deadline for submissions.

New York City Economic Development Corporation Request for Proposals, Farm Colony, Staten Island, NY (Feb. 28, 2007).

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