Harlem Church Plans 33-Story Tower, Files For Rezoning: Report

HARLEM, NY — A Harlem church on Central Park's northern border has applied for a rezoning to convert its modest building into a high-rise apartment tower, according to reports and public records.

La Hermosa Christian Church, located on Central Park North and Fifth Avenue, is applying for a number of zoning amendments that would facilitate the construction of a 33-story development on its current site, according to an Environmental Assessment Statement filed with the Department of City Planning last week.

The church is requesting that its site is rezoned from a medium-density district to one of the highest density districts allowable by the city's zoning code. Other applications in the church's proposal would modify height and setback regulations for the planned building, waive parking requirements and designate the site a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing area, according to the EAS.

If the four applications are passed by the city, La Hermosa's development will rise 410-feet-tall with about 194,182 total square feet of residential floor area and 37,647 square feet of community facility floor area, according to the public records. The development would contain 160 apartment units, 48 of which would be "permanently affordable" through the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program.

The Environmental Assessment Statement was first spotted and reported on by real estate publication New York YIMBY.

The Department of City Planning issued a negative declaration for the plan, which means that the city found that the proposed building would have "no significant effect" on the quality of the environment of the surrounding area. City Planning officials determined that the upzoning of the site would simply be "an extension of the existing zoning immediately eat (sic) of the directly affected area," according to the negative declaration.

Projects that receive a negative declaration from the Department of City Planning are found to have completed the City Environmental Quality Review process and therefore can be certified to entire the Uniform Land Use and Review process — if necessary — once all the application materials are submitted.

La Hermosa Church's application includes zoning map amendments, so it will have to go through the ULURP process, which means the application will appear before the local community board, Borough President Gale Brewer, the City Planning Commission and the City Council for review.

The Environmental Assessment Statement filed by La Hermosa predicts that the development could be complete as soon as 2020 and that construction on the tower would last 22 months. This timeline suggests that the church believes the project will be approved sometime in late 2019 or 2020.

The building site is currently occupied by the three-story La Hermosa Church, which was constructed in 1940, and an adjacent parking lot, according to the EAS. The church's statement argues that the site's current zoning does not "encourage development consistent with the existing character of the developments" that border Central Park's four corners such as Columbus Circle and Grand Army Plaza high-rise towers on the park's southern corners.

Demolition on the existing La Hermosa Church building would begin soon after applications for the zoning amendments are approved, according to the EAS.