Plans Filed For First Building In Massive East Harlem Development

EAST HARLEM, NY — Developers behind East Harlem's "Sendero Verde" complex — which will occupy an entire formerly city-owned block that spans East 111th and 112th streets between Madison and Park avenues — have filed plans for the development's first building.

A 37-story mixed-use building will rise at 1681 Madison Avenue and will contain 384 of the Sendero Verde's planned 655 apartment units, according to plans filed with the city Department of Buildings. The structure will stand 419-feet-tall and contain more than 345,000 square feet of buildable space, according to the building plans.

Most of the building's space will be zoned for residential use, according to building plans. With 317,885 square feet zoned for residential space, the average apartment unit in the building will be about 828 square feet large. The building's apartments will be located on floors five through 36, and each floor will house 12 apartments, according to building plans.

Residential amenities in the building will include a yoga room, a fitness room, resident laundry facilities and resident storage and more than 150 bicycle storage spaces, according to building plans.

The building will also house retail and office spaces on its lower floors, according to building plans.

The City Council approved developers applications for zoning and land use variances to construct the Sendero Verde when it passed a sweeping rezoning of East Harlem in November. The plan as a whole is expected to spur the construction of 1,288 affordable housing units on the neighborhood's private development sites, but opponents believe an increase of market-rate housing will lead to gentrification and displacement of the neighborhood's long-term tenants.

The Sendero Verde development will contain 655 apartments — of which all units will be offered at below market-rate prices — a charter school, a YMCA facility, a health-foods market and community spaces including nonprofit offices and a Mount Sinai community health center. The block was previously occupied by four community gardens and a baseball field, according to the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The gardens will be preserved and integrated into the development, according to the HPD.

The winning development bid, proposed by Jonathan Rose Companies and L+M Development Partners, calls for 20 percent of building units to be reserved for families making less than $24,480, sixty percent reserved for families making less than $48,960 and twenty percent reserved for families making less than $106,080.

Of the development's 655 units only 163 will be permanently offered at below-market rates under the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing law, according to the HPD. How long other units remain below market-rate depends on whether the developers refinance loans and subsidies with HPD which would keep the units from hitting market-rate rents.

Renderings courtesy Department of Housing Preservation and Development