Friday, March 22, 2013

Here's what the city has planned for open space at Meltzer Tower



This week, more details emerged about the city's plan to lease playground and community-center space to developers within public housing areas. On Wednesday, we looked at the plans for Campos Plaza.

In the image above, you'll see what's in store for the Meltzer Tower off of East First Street between First Avenue and Avenue A (via the NYCHA website):

Max Meltzer Tower on Manhattan's Lower East Side is a 20-story building exclusively for seniors with 230 apartments housing an estimated 246 residents.

Meltzer Tower has a $10.5 million unmet need for capital building improvements over the next 5 years.

Proposed Development on Land Lease Site(s)
East 1st Street Site
Site Area: 13,000 SF (Approximate)
New Construction: 121,500 SF of Residential Floor Area (Approximate)
18,500 SF of Commercial Floor Area (Approximate)
97 New Apartments

Current Uses on Land Lease Site(s)
-Landscaped Seating Area

Benefits for Meltzer Tower Residents
-Redesigned Central Plaza with resident participation
-Preference for new low-income apartments
-Emergency power generation for critical building systems
-Temporary and permanent job opportunities
-Enhanced security for development

Here's the presentation that officials gave on March 13.


A reader pointed us to the FAQs for the proposal.

Wouldn’t this be disruptive to the community?
Construction would not take place forever, and would be conducted in a strictly monitored fashion. Additionally, construction would generate job opportunities for NYCHA residents. Once the new building is in place, there would also be additional, permanent job opportunities for NYCHA residents to pursue.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

where will the grandmas sit in the summer when their apts are scorching hot? parking lots, yes - seating areas for seniors, no!

RyanAvenueA said...

Jesus, we've been dealing with enough construction around there with the Houston project. This seems like a completely shitty idea, taking away a decent green area in the neighborhood. And the parking lot will look great when you're walking down 2nd st and have lots on both sides. Another consideration would have to be that ambulette's are constantly pulling up to pick up seniors and blocking first street because the gate is locked and they can't pull all the way in. (For some reason they can't use 2nd st I guess.) And now if First St will be effectively shut down to build whatever shitshow goes up here I can only imagine this being an inconvenience to the seniors who need to go to their doctor appointments. Also pity for anyone who had a decent view over the sitting area/plaza. Better buy a three year supply of earplugs.

Anonymous said...

This very sad. I can't speak.