Housing project along Harlem River approved

Courtesy of GF55 Partners.

Mixed-income project will replace welfare center and provide more than 300 apartments and a day care center. On April 6, 2011, the City Council unanimously approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to allow L+M Development and Artimus Construction to develop a 313-unit affordable housing project on a City-owned lot adjacent to the Harlem River in Manhattan. The lot is bounded by Park Avenue, Harlem River Drive, and 131st Street, and is occupied by a four-story former welfare intake center.

L+M and Artimus will develop the project, known as Harlem River Point, through HPD’s low-income and mixed-income rental programs. Approximately 271 of the project’s apartments will be marketed to families earning up to 60 percent of the area median income, and the remaining units will be marketed to families earning between 90 and 100 percent of the area median income. The nearly 300,000  sq.ft. development will include 2,340  sq.ft. of commercial space and a 10,000 sq.ft. day care center. The project will feature sound-attenuating windows and acoustic walls along its perimeter in order to buffer noise from Harlem River Drive and a nearby elevated railway.

Manhattan Community Board 11 and  Borough President Scott M. Stringer supported the project, and the City Planning Commission approved the proposal in February. 8 CityLand 24 (March 15, 2011).

At the  Council’s Planning, Dispositions & Concessions Subcommittee hearing, local Council Member Inez E. Dickens expressed support for the project. Dickens stated that the project would ensure that Harlem residents could continue to live in the community, pointing out that outreach efforts would target residents of CB 10 and 11. The Subcommittee unanimously approved the project, and the Land Use Committee and full Council followed suit.

ULURP Review
Lead Agency: HPD, Neg. Dec.
Comm. Bd.: MN 11, App’d, 27-0-4
Boro. Pres.: App’d
CPC: App’d, 12-0-0
Council: App’d, 47-0-0

Council: Harlem River Point/1945-1951 Park Avenue (April 6, 2011).

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