Affordable Housing Developments At Empty Harlem Lots To Move Forward

HARLEM, NY — A series of affordable housing developments on city-owned vacant land in East Harlem is showing signs of moving forward.

New permits for excavations and new buildings at four sites, in what officials named "Las Raices," were filed this month, according to city records.

The sites, at 303 East 102nd St, 338 East 117th St., 505-507 East 118th St. and 1761-1763 Park Ave.will result in 78 apartments, all of which will be affordable housing, according to Buildings Department permits and documents from the zoning approval process — a necessary step when building on city-owned lots.

City Council approved the development on the city-owned lots in late 2021.

Originally, the plan called for a total of 81 affordable units — plus a pair of units for live-in supers at the Park Avenue site — but five units have apparently been cut from the plan, according to filed building permits.

Those units were removed from the Park Avenue location, reducing its total apartments from 52 to 57. The other, much smaller, developments had no change in the number of apartments, according to their filings.

The project is managed by the city's department of Housing, Preservation and Development.

An HPD spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment on the permit filings or the change in total number of apartments.

According to the 2021 zoning documents, nearly half of the units would be one-bedrooms apartments income-restricted at 80 percent of the area median income or less, roughly around $80,000.

The buildings would also include a nearly equal mix of studio and two-bedroom units, plus five three-bedroom apartments.

Initially, 12 units were said to be reserved for formerly homeless residents.

303 East 102nd St., at Second Avenue, and 338 East 117th St., near First Avenue, will be roughly the same size, at about 63 feet high, with the former to contain six units and the latter, seven.

505-507 East 118th St., at Pleasant Avenue, will be similarly tall, at 62 feet, but will contain 18 apartments total.

1761-1763 Park Ave., at 112nd Street, will loom over the Metro North elevated tracks at 124 feet tall.

With 47 units, five fewer than originally planned, the building will take over the front two lots and will not physically encroach the adjacent Jackie Robinson Community Garden, which is on a single, side lot on East 122nd Street.

Last year, Borough President Mark Levine released a report on 171 vacant or underutilized sites across the borough where over 73,000 homes could be built, about half of which are publicly-owned properties.