Facility to provide transitional housing for formerly incarcerated women. The Planning Commission approved a 49-unit, seven-story new building to serve as a substance abuse treatment facility and transitional housing for 70 homeless women ex-offenders, of whom an estimated 28 will have children residing with them. The new building, which will be funded by the New York State Homeless Housing Assistance Program, will be located at 435 East 119th Street in East Harlem and managed by Project Greenhope, a residential transitional treatment program for formerly incarcerated women. The application required the Commission’s approval of a UDAAP designation, disposition of City-owned property, and a special permit to increase the permitted floor area.
The site, located on a primarily residential block, comprises two City-owned lots on the north side of East 119th Street between Pleasant and First Avenues which currently contain a community garden that will be relocated. Project Greenhope manages an existing facility on East 119th Street and plans to move all 62 of its residents into the new building. Residents of the new building would either be in transition from incarceration to independent living or referred as an alternative to incarceration. The proposed 36,225 square-foot building will include an on-site nursery and day care center, a community garden and a yard for recreational activities. (more…)
Site contains six community gardens. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development fIled an application for the disposition of City-owned land and designation of an Urban Development Action Area for the construction of the Courtlandt Avenue Apartments, a five-story, 1 67- unit, low-income housing project in the Bronx.
The 55,980 sq.ft. project site, bounded by Courtlandt and Park Avenues and East 158th and 159th Streets, is comprised of 16 lots, of which 1 1 are vacant, two contain abandoned buildings, and three contain six community gardens. The six gardens are part of the 543 City community gardens subject to a 2002 settlement agreement between the City and the State Attorney General. 8 CityLaw 116 (2002) . Under the agreement, 198 gardens became permanent open spaces, 38 were set for development, and 114 became subject to a review process that could ultimately lead to development. (more…)
Developer reduced tower by 60 feet and increased community facilities. The City Council approved, without additional changes, the City Planning Commission’s resolutions adopted on July 28, 2004 to allow construction of a 29-story mixed-use building at 200 Chambers Street. The Council’s action completes the designation of the site as an Urban Development Action Area, allows the transfer of City-owned land to the City’s Economic Development Corporation, and approves a special permit to modify height and setback. In the course of the ULURP process, the developer reduced the height of the tower from 360 ft. to 300 ft., eliminated an urban plaza, committed 10,000 sq.ft. of a 40,000-square-foot community facility space to the adjacent P.S. 234, and reduced the project’s size.
The proposed development raised concerns because of the site’s history, the potential shadows on Tribeca’s Washington Market Park, and the impact of new residents on the already overcrowded P.S. 234. The site, part of an expired Urban Renewal Area Plan, had a history of failed development proposals, leaving it one of only two remaining undeveloped sites in the area. (more…)
