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. (read more…)

Mixed-use project would provide 314 affordable rental units and replace a former welfare intake center. On February 16, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s proposal to allow L+M Development Partners and Artimus Construction to develop a 314-unit affordable housing project on a City-owned lot between the Harlem River Drive and Park Avenue’s elevated Metro-North railway in East Harlem. The 296,486 sq.ft. project, known as Harlem River Point, would replace a four-story building formerly occupied by a Human Resources Administration welfare intake center. The block is bounded by East 131st Street, Park Avenue, and Harlem River Drive.

L+M and Artimus would construct three connected buildings ranging in height from three to thirteen stories. The project would provide 2,340 sq.ft. of commercial space, a 3,000 sq.ft. courtyard, and space for a 10,300 sq.ft. day care center. According to HPD, 60 apartments would be available to families earning up to 40 percent of the area median income, 184 units would be available to families earning up to 60 percent of the area median income, and 70 units would be set aside for families earning between 80 and 130 percent of the area median income. HPD requested permission to dispose of the City-owned site and to rezone the block from R7-2 to R8 with a C2-4 commercial overlay. (read more…)

The City agreed to build mixed-income housing project prior to 2005 West Chelsea rezoning. On June 29, 2010, the City Council approved, at the request of the New York City Housing Authority, a text amendment that would facilitate the development of a 22-story mixed-income affordable housing project on the site of the Housing Authority-controlled Elliott-Chelsea Houses at the northwest corner of West 25th Street and Ninth Avenue in Chelsea. The site is occupied by a 42-space accessory parking lot and a trash compactor unit, which are both used by residents of Elliott-Chelsea’s two 21- story buildings.

The area was rezoned in 2005. Prior to the 2005 rezoning, the Mayor’s office and the Council reached an agreement to develop affordable housing at the Elliott-Chelsea site and on a parking lot at the Fulton Houses on West 18th Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. In 2007 the Housing Authority selected 25th Street Chelsea Equities LLC, a subsidiary of Artimus Construction, to develop both sites. Artimus will purchase the Elliott-Chelsea site for $4 million. (read more…)