9 Harlem NYCHA Buildings To Be Renovated Under New City Deal

HARLEM, NY — The New York City Housing authority closed on a deal with private developers this week to renovate more than 1,700 public housing units across Manhattan, including nearly 500 in Harlem, the agency announced Monday.

The $271 million project will modernize kitchens, bathrooms, windows and flooring in 486 NYCHA apartments across nine buildings in Harlem. Elevators, heating systems, common areas and safety measures like fire systems, intercoms and cameras will also be improved, NYCHA said.

Plans for the renovations have been in the works for years, but it took until this week for NYCHA to finalize its deal with the group of six developers, led by the Brooklyn-based Monadnock Development.

The process has been a source of anxiety for some NYCHA residents, who are being asked to sign new leases with the private companies ahead of the renovations, THE CITY reported in October. Some tenants have expressed fears that this conversion will lead to them being forced or priced out of their apartments, but NYCHA leaders have insisted that rents will stay the same.

The nine Harlem NYCHA complexes being renovated are:

• 335 East 111th Street (66 apartments)
• Grampion (35 apartments)
• Manhattanville Rehab (Group 2) (46 apartments)
• Manhattanville Rehab (Group 3) (51 apartments)
• Park Avenue-East 122nd, 123rd Street (90 apartments)
• Public School 139 (Conversion) (125 apartments)
• Samuel (MHOP) I (53 apartments)
• Samuel (MHOP) II (10 apartments)
• Samuel (MHOP) III (10 apartments)

A total of 2,900 residents in 1,718 apartments around Manhattan will be affected by the renovations, NYCHA said.

In a news release, NYCHA said the plans have won the support of several tenant leaders, including Audrey Clemons, resident association president at P.S. 139 (Conversion), a former public school building on 140th Street that is now a NYCHA complex.

"The residents and myself are ecstatic that our building was selected to be a part of" the program, Clemons said in a statement. "With the planned upgrades, it won’t feel like we’re living in a public school building anymore but in a new luxury building."

"There are even plans for a newly designed backyard and garden area that’s specifically equipped for seniors. We feel great about what’s planned," she added.

These renovations are part of the first wave of NYCHA's plans to improve its housing stock through a federal program called Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). In the end, a third of NYCHA's apartments could be taken over by private management through the RAD program, THE CITY reported.