Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
City officials yesterday announced that the 9th Precinct's parking lot on Fifth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue will be developed into a mixed-use building with approximately 131 affordable apartments, a senior center, community space and replacement parking for the NYPD.
The project, called The Aurea, will be developed by Spatial Equity, Housing Works, the Cooper Square Committee and This Land is Ours Community Land Trust.
Speakers yesterday included (from left) Steve Herrick, executive director, Cooper Square Committee; Dina Levy, HPD commissioner; Leila Bozorg, deputy mayor for housing and planning; Brian Kavanaugh, state senator; and Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan borough president.
According to the city, all 131 apartments will be income-restricted, with 30% reserved for formerly homeless New Yorkers. Housing Works will provide on-site supportive services for residents.
Officials told us afterward that the final height of The Aurea has not yet been determined and will depend, in part, on a future rezoning of the site. If approved, construction is expected to take about two years.
Here's a look at the renderings...
The proposal stems from a city request for proposals that followed the SoHo/NoHo Neighborhood Plan process and community outreach, including public workshops and multilingual engagement.
The Aurea is the first city-owned development site designated under the Mamdani administration. City Hall said it reflects a broader push to build affordable housing on public land and expand the role of community land trusts in future projects.
The parking lot across the street from the 9th Precinct station house has long been identified as a potential site for affordable housing. In recent years, neighborhood organizations, including the Cooper Square Committee and This Land is Ours Community Land Trust, have advocated for the redevelopment of publicly owned property into permanently affordable housing.
While the city said the project will include 25 replacement parking spaces for the NYPD, a police source told EVG that the Precinct is losing more than half of its existing parking capacity.
The source said the redevelopment will also eliminate storage space used for vouchered vehicles, confiscated e-bikes and other large seized items, much of which will now have to be kept on the street.
Previously on EV Grieve:
