ICYMI: Huge East Harlem Development With 3 New Schools Approved By City Council

EAST HARLEM, NY — In a win for Mayor Bill de Blasio's affordable housing agenda, the City Council approved zoning applications for a massive planned development that will span an entire East Harlem block.

A City Council committee voted to approve the project for East 96th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues this week, according to the council's legislative website. At its highest point the development — which will contain residential, commercial and educational components — will trump surrounding buildings by topping out at 68 stories. The development is being

Private developer AvalonBay Communities is teaming up with the New York City Educational Construction Fund to construct the project.

Of the residential units about 30 percent (330 to 360) will be made permanently affordable under the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law, according to zoning applications approved by the City Council. The development will mark one of the largest to employ the MIH regulations since de Blasio proposed the law as a fix to the city's affordable housing crisis.

The new development will also contain three schools, a brand new playground, 20,000 square feet of retail space. The three schools that will inhabit the development are COOP Tech, The Heritage School and Park East High School. COOP Tech will receive its own building whereas The Heritage School and Park East High School will share a separate building next to a rebuilt Marx Brothers Playground.

The development site is currently occupied by the Marx Brothers Playground and the existing COOP Tech building, both of which will be demolished and built anew.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito said that community concerns regarding the building's size don't outweigh the positives that the development will bring.

"The height of the building has been a challenge from the start, with an inherent tension between the scale of the building and the ability to deliver the variety of public benefits," Mark-Viverito said, as reported by Crain's New York Business. "We were able to reduce the building by 5 stories through the [public-review process] and arrive at a place where the public benefits helped mitigate the concerns."

Photo courtesy Manhattan Community Board 11