Private development on public land: It’s happening.
Wyckoff Gardens in Boerum Hill and Holmes Towers, the only public housing project on the Upper East Side, will be the proving grounds for the NYCHA’s “NextGen Neighborhoods” plan to refurbish the existing buildings, add new units and boost the agency’s revenue.
NYCHA officials have said the “infill housing” program will create 1,000 units of housing in total, part of 7,500 units the city plans to build on public land in the next 10 years, Politico reported.
The sites were picked because they had large tracts of underused land, were in need of repairs, were located in neighborhoods both in need of affordable housing and attractive to developers.
Holmes Towers, in the area bordered by 1st Avenue, the FDR Drive, 92nd and 93rd streets, consists of two 25-story buildings with 537 units on 2.8 acres of land, a fraction of the total 16.2 acre property. The city plans to build one new building with 350 to 400 units there.
Wyckoff Gardens, currently three 21-story buildings with 527 units on less than an acre of the 5.8 acres of land, will receive 550 to 650 new units. [Politico] – Ariel Stulberg