Borough President Opposes Rezoning Harlem's Lenox Terrace

HARLEM, NY — Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will not support a controversial project that would double the size of a Central Harlem apartment complex, the borough president announced this week.

Brewer voiced her opposition to the Olnick Organization's plan to expand Lenox Terrace by upzoning the development's multi-block site — bound by Lenox Avenue, Fifth Avenue, West 132nd Street and West 135th Street — and constructing five new 28-story, mixed-use towers. The borough president cited the proposal's scale and its lack of public investments as reasons for her opposition.

"There are few instances where a development the scale of the one proposed by Lenox Terrace Development Associates can be viewed as responsible," Brewer said in a statement. "This proposal promises to change the physical and socioeconomic character of Central Harlem while ignoring the concerns of stakeholders and urban planners in the community."

Brewer recommended the Olnick Organization include a long-term commitment to affordable housing, support for local small businesses and a 10,000-square-foot supermarket as part of the proposal.

Olnick's proposal has now been rejected by the first two voting bodies of the city's Uniform Land Use and Review Procedure, the public review process for land use applications. Community Board 10 voted in November to reject Olnick's requested upzoning as out of scale for Lenox Terrace, and said the board would not support any expansion of Lenox Terrace that asked for the developer's desired zoning rules.

Members of community board 10 also voiced concerns that the project would threaten the African-American plurality of Harlem. For decades, Lenox Terrace has been home to a majority of African-American residents, but new market-rate units could bring a shift in demographics.

Residents of Lenox Terrace voiced concerns with the project claiming that it will tarnish the development's "cultural and historical significance as a center of African-American culture." That group, the Lenox Terrace Association of Concerned Tenants, celebrated Brewer's "no" vote on the project

"I commend and thank the Manhattan borough president for her true leadership and unwavering support for tenants in opposing this monstrous rezoning proposal," said LT-ACT President Lenn Shebar about Brewer's “no” recommendation.

The Olnick Organization previously touted its expansion as the "largest private affordable housing initiative in Harlem." Of the 1,600 new apartments planned in the development, a quarter would be offered through the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program.

The next vote in the Uniform Land Use and Review Procedure belongs to the City Planning Commission. After the CPC, the City Council will vote on the proposal. Votes by the community board and borough president are considered advisory, and are not legally binding.