The City’s Department of Sanitation bulldozed the community garden at 99 South 5th Street, Brooklyn on May 23, 2013. Image Credit: Time’s Up.

High rises are built in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at a historic rate and most of them remain empty while very few lots are preserved as open space. One such lot at 99 South 5th Street in Williamsburg is owned by Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the City government agency charged with managing affordable housing, and has been vacant for at least 20 years. Last year HPD released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the lot (alternate address 337 Berry Street), asking developers to submit plans to buy and develop the property. The results were supposed to be released to the public last November. While the RFP for this lot requested that at least part of the footprint be set aside for open space, the activists at Time’s Up  know all too well how public space projects conveniently disappear from development plans when costs run higher than expected.

Time’s Up, a direct action environmental group, has defended and supported open space in New York City for 20 years. After three years of operating a bicycle co-op in Williamsburg, the group has established deeps roots in the community. One of the volunteers proposed that Time’s Up finally start their own community garden in the neighborhood. The group decided on the 99 South 5th Street lot, just one block from their bicycle co-op, after scouting vacant lots around that location, researching who owned those lots, and holding several meetings to discuss the pros and cons of each. Time’s Up spoke with the community board and left messages for HPD to find out what happened with the RFP, but were told nothing. Additionally, hundreds of signatures were collected from local residents who supported the garden.

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Rendering of micro-unit interior. On the left, the canvas space, and on the right, the toolbox space. Image Credit: Office of the Mayor.

Mixed-use development will feature 55 experimental micro-units between 250- and 350-square-feet each unit. On April 8, 2013 the City Planning Commission certified the adAPT NYC proposal as complete and ready for review. The plan, proposed by the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, seeks to initiate an innovative approach to affordable housing through the development of micro-units. A new, 10-story building will be constructed to house 55 residential units as well as retail and community space. The chosen development site, at 335 East 27th Street in Manhattan, is currently a 12-space parking lot used by New York City Housing Authority employees. The 4,725-square-foot site is bordered by Mt. Carmel Place, East 28th Street, First Avenue, and a pedestrian-only portion of East 27th Street. The site is immediately adjacent to one of NYCHA’s Nathan Strauss Houses to the north and Bellevue South Park to the west. Bellevue Hospital is also close by and to the east.

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View of African Burial Ground National Monument, 22 Reade Street building in the background. Credit: CityLand.

Council Member Charles Barron lead the City Council’s rejection of 22 Reade Street sale in support of the site being used for a pending federally-funded African Burial Ground Museum. On November 13, 2012, the City Council unanimously rejected the disposition of city-owned property at 22 Reade Street and approved of the disposition of City-owned property at 49-51 Chambers Street. The City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) proposed the sale of the properties in order to reduce underutilized and inefficient City-owned space, better accommodate City employees, and save the costs of renovation and maintenance on aging buildings. The buildings were offered as an unrestricted sale through a Request for Proposals on April 23, 2012. The RFP also included 346 Broadway, which was approved for disposition in September, 1998.

22 Reade Street currently contains the offices of the Department of City Planning and the City Planning Commission. The building is directly adjacent to both the Ted Weiss Federal Building and the African Burial Ground National Monument. 49-51 Chambers Street – the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank – contains not-for-profit organizations and various city agencies, including Manhattan Community Board 1. Both properties are located within the African Burial Ground and the Commons Historic District, which is bounded by Broadway, Duane, Lafayette, Centre, and Chambers Streets. The district was designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1993 after the bodies of over 400 African and African-American slaves were found and excavated during construction of the Ted Weiss Federal Building in 1991.

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EDC’s vision for the Seward Park redevelopment area in the Lower East Side. Credit: EDC

The City agreed to increase number of housing units from 900 to 1,000 and set aside space for on-site public school. On October 11, 2012 the City Council modified and approved the City’s Seward Park Mixed-Use Development Project. The 1.65 million-square-foot project will impact nine City-owned lots on the north and south sides of Delancey Street between Ludlow and Clinton Streets in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The City envisions the development of six new mixed-use buildings, 500 underground public parking spaces, and the potential relocation of the Essex Street Market to a large space on the south side of Delancey. As initially proposed, the project would create 900 residential units,  450 of which would affordable for low-, moderate-, and middle-income tenants. The Economic Development Corporation, which is the authorized representative for the multi-agency effort, has not identified a developer, but plans to issue a formal request for proposals in January 2013.

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EDC’s vision for the Seward Park redevelopment area in the Lower East Side. Credit: EDC

City’s plan to redevelop urban renewal area in the Lower East Side would include 1.65 million sq.ft. of new development across nine City-owned sites. On August 22, 2012, the City Planning Commission approved the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s 1.65 million-square-foot, 900-unit Seward Park Mixed-Use Development Project in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The project site consists of nine City-owned lots on the north and south sides of Delancey Street between Ludlow and Clinton Streets. Three lots are north of Delancey Street and include the Essex Street Market building (Site 9) and two low-rise commercial properties (Sites 8 and 10). The remaining six lots are on the south side of Delancey Street bounded by Ludlow and Clinton Streets and make up the proposed Large-Scale General Development.

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