Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn housing projects approved; sent to Council. On April 27 and May 11, 2005, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development obtained the Planning Commission’s approval of seven affordable housing projects, totaling 668 units, to be developed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Three of the Bronx projects, including the 194-unit Prospect Avenue Tower in Melrose, the 102-unit East Clarke Place project in High Bridge, and the 63-unit Jacob’s Place project in Mount Hope, will include housing for formally homeless and units for very low-income individuals and families. Four of the projects include a commercial component or a community facility use. In total, HPD applied for 591 affordable housing units in the Bronx, 56 in Brooklyn and 21 in Manhattan. In each of the seven applications, HPD applied for the designation of a UDAAP, which, if approved by the City Council, will provide the projects with state tax exemptions.

The applications are part of the Bloomberg administration’s December 2002 New Housing Marketplace initiative in which the mayor called for the creation or preservation of 65,000 units of affordable housing in five years.

City Council approved three of the projects in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn – Melrose Commons/Cornerstone, East Clarke Place, Jacob’s Place and Cypress Plaza. Council’s mandatory review of the remaining three projects is pending.

CPC: Cornerstone Site 2 (C 050212 HAM) (May 11, 2005); CPC: Melrose Commons/Cornerstone (C 050214 HAX) (April 27, 2005); CPC: Prospect Avenue Tower (C 050248 HAX) (April 27, 2005); CPC: East Clarke Place (C 050228 HAX) (April 27, 2005); CPC: Jacob’s Place (C 050258 HAX) (April 27, 2005); CPC: Melrose Apartments (C 050259 HAK) (April 27, 2005); CPC: Cypress Plaza (C 050304 HAK) (April 27, 2005). CITYADMIN