The Daily News reports today that the cash-strapped New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is planning on leasing playground and community center space for luxury high-rises
Per the article:
[T]he agency plans to lease out land to private developers who will then build some 3 million square feet of luxury apartments smack in the middle of Manhattan housing projects.
Internal documents obtained by the Daily News show the planned 4,330 apartments in eight developments are all in hot real estate neighborhoods, including the upper East and West Sides, the lower East Side and lower Manhattan.
Of the new units, 20 percent will be set aside as "affordable" — designated for families with net income of $50,000 or less.
But will the richies want to live so close to the poors? Not to worry! Per the article: "The new luxury towers will face away from the old, deteroriating affordable housing."
As the Daily News put it: "The housing authority is planning its very own Tale of Two Cities."
On the Lower East Side, a parking lot at the Baruch Houses will be redeveloped into luxury towers. There are also plans to lease a parking garage at Campos Plaza on Avenue C.
Meanwhile, residents are mobilizing against the plan. The Lo-Down has details from last night's CB3 Land Use Committee meeting, where Smith Houses Tenant President Aixa Torres warned: "This is a travesty," she said. "We are not going to take this… When no one wanted to live here, we stayed… if you want a war, you got a war."
The upside for the NYCHA: They expect to generate $31 million to $46 million in annual lease payments, "all of which will go toward fixing up deteriorating buildings. The agency currently has a backlog of 420,000 repair orders and faces a $60 million budget gap annually," the Daily News reported.