City Reveals Winning Inwood Library Redevelopment Bid

INWOOD, NY — The city has revealed details of a controversial plan to redevelop the Inwood branch of the New York Public Library, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced Tuesday.

The city will hand over the Inwood library branch on Broadway between Dyckman and Academy streets to a development team composed of the Community League of the Heights (CLOTH), Ranger Properties, Alembic, and the Children’s Village, HPD announced. That team's winning bid calls for the construction of a 14-story building with 175 apartments and a new three-level library branch, HPD announced.

All 175 apartments in the new development — named "The Eliza" after Eliza Hamilton — will be offered rents below the market rate, city officials announced.

The units will be eligible for individuals earning between $20,040 and $40,080 per year and families earning between $25,770 and $51,540 per year, city officials said. Twenty percent of the units will be reserved for families of up to three earning less than $26,000 per year and an additional number of apartments will be reserved for formerly homeless residents, city officials said.

The apartments will be a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom apartments, city officials said.

"The Eliza—fittingly named for one of the earliest supporters of the Inwood library and a champion of literacy and education—weds deeply affordable homes with a beautifully redesigned library and a new pre-K facility that will benefit the Inwood neighborhood for generations to come," HPD Commissioner Maria Torres-Springer said in a statement.

The city will be able to assure that the units in the building remain affordable by using a legal tool known as a remainder interest, city officials said. Should the development group refuse to extend offering below-market rates, the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development will be able to assume control of the property.

The new Inwood library branch will occupy space on three of the new development's floors. The facility will maintain the branch's existing services while adding space for computers, classes and a community room, officials said.

New York Public Library officials said the new library will be a vast improvement over the current branch.

"The new Inwood Library will provide patrons, young and old, with a larger library that supports the opportunities for success they deserve, offering greater access to books, technology and programs that ensure the vitality of the neighborhood," NYPL President Tony Marx said in a statement.

A temporary library will be established while the new development is under construction, city officials said. The location for the temporary library branch was not included in Tuesday's announcement.

A group of Inwood residents called Save Inwood Library have been outspoken critics of the city's plan since it was first announced in January of 2017. The group's members have warned against turning over the library's land to private developers and criticized the city's selection of the Inwood library for redevelopment. The library branch moved to its current location in 1952 and recently won the New York Public Library's "best branch" award.

Local Congressman Adriano Espaillat also denounced the plan Tuesday. Espaillat called the city's proposal a "Trojan Horse" for the neighborhood. The congressman said that while the winning development bid included primarily-affordable housing, the plan doesn't do enough to combat the housing crisis.

"The Inwood Library plan is a Trojan Horse for Uptown," Espaillat said in a statement. "New York City has a housing crisis. Market prices continue to rise with families being pushed out from our neighborhoods because they can no longer afford their rent. The 2010 Census indicated the exodus of over 14,000 residents from that neighborhood, second only to Buffalo, New York. As we brace for the 2020 Census data, we cannot allow the City to push through a rezoning of our community without first demonstrating how they will guarantee they will preserve affordable housing and create at least 5,000 new units."

The Inwood Library development is part of a multi-agency initiative "action plan" for the neighborhood of Inwood. Other parts of that plan include a neighborhood-wide rezoning initiative currently undergoing public review, a $30 million renovation of Highbridge Park, new workforce and legal services centers in the neighborhood and grants to local small businesses.

Community Board 12 — which represents Inwood and Washington Heights — plans to pass a resolution on the Inwood rezoning plan this month. A Land Use committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday has been postposed to March 15 and the full community board will meet on March 20.

For more information on the rezoning plan, click here.

Rendering courtesy Fogarty Finger Architecture and Andrew Berman Architect